Engineering Transfusable Platelets for Improved Hemorrhage Control

Failure to control bleeding, such as during trauma and childbirth, accounts for more than half of all operating room deaths. Platelets are blood cells that stick to sites of active bleeding and release proteins to initiate blood clotting. The gold standard therapy for treating severe bleeds is transfusing the patient with more platelets. However, in some cases, transfused platelets can have impaired clotting, thus increasing mortality. A strategy to improve platelet function is to load platelets with more clot-initiating proteins. We have previously shown that platelets can be engineered to express new proteins using mRNA-lipid nanoparticles (mRNA-LNP). This project will expand on these findings and use mRNA-LNP to deliver the genetic blueprint for clot-initiating proteins into platelets to enable the production of clotting factors that will prime the platelets for improved clotting. The research will be in active collaboration with academic and industrial partners to facilitate the development of a clinical product from any generated intellectual property. Enhancing the natural properties of platelets will improve options for bleeding control, with the potential to reduce the incidence of hemorrhage-related deaths in Canada.