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  • Review Article
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Platelets: at the nexus of antimicrobial defence

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 12, pages 426–437 (2014)Cite this article

Subjects

Key Points

  • Platelets have multiple direct and indirect functions that integrate innate and adaptive antimicrobial host defences.

  • Platelets actively sense signals of tissue injury and microbial infection via an array of constitutive and inducible membrane receptors.

  • Activated platelets deliver antimicrobial effector molecules, such as kinocidins and platelet microbicidal proteins, to sites of tissue injury or infection and in the bloodstream.

  • Platelet products inhibit viral, bacterial, fungal and protozoan pathogens; for example, new studies demonstrate the importance of kinocidins in human defence against malaria and HIV-1.

  • Platelet interactions with T cells, B cells, neutrophils and other immune system components connect innate and adaptive immunity to promote optimal host defence against infection.

  • Thrombocytopenia and platelet antagonists that inhibit the antimicrobial roles of platelets may be risk factors for infection.

Abstract

Platelets have traditionally been viewed as fragmentary mediators of coagulation. However, recent molecular and cellular evidence suggests that they have multiple roles in host defence against infection. From first-responders that detect pathogens and rapidly deploy host-defence peptides, to beacons that recruit and enhance leukocyte functions in the context of infection, to liaisons that facilitate the T cell–B cell crosstalk that is required in adaptive immunity, platelets represent a nexus at the intersection of haemostasis and antimicrobial host defence. In this Review, I consider recent insights into the antimicrobial roles of platelets, which are mediated both directly and indirectly to integrate innate and adaptive immune responses to pathogens.

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Figure 1: Platelets as granulocytes.
Figure 2: Activation and amplification of platelet antimicrobial mechanisms.
Figure 3: Platelet-mediated immune syntax against infection.
Figure 4: Platelets at the nexus of host defence.

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Acknowledgements

This Review highlights recent advances in platelet immunology, focusing on antimicrobial host defence. This field of research has been the area of many important efforts on the part of numerous excellent investigators over many years of work. Although only a few studies could be illustrated in the scope of this Review, appreciation is extended to all those who work in this important area. M.R.Y. was supported, in part, by R01 grants AI39001 and AI48031 from the US National Institutes of Health and grant W81XWH-12-2-0101 from the US Department of Defense.

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  1. David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California Los Angeles, 10833 Le Conte Avenue, Los Angeles, 90095, California, USA

    Michael R. Yeaman

  2. Department of Medicine, Division of Molecular Medicine and Division of Infectious Diseases, St John's Cardiovascular Research Center, and Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute, Harbor-University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Medical Center, 1124 West Carson Street, Building RB-2, Torrance, 90502, California, USA

    Michael R. Yeaman

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Correspondence to Michael R. Yeaman.

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M.R.Y. is a founder and shareholder of NovaDigm Therapeutics, Inc., and founder and shareholder of Metacin, Inc., neither of which provided support for the current manuscript. He is a cited inventor of anti-infective peptides and mimetics thereof, as well as of cross-kingdom vaccines.

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Yeaman, M. Platelets: at the nexus of antimicrobial defence. Nat Rev Microbiol 12, 426–437 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro3269

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