Aaron Petrey

Background

About Aaron Petrey

My research is focused on the function of platelets, which are specialized cells essential for hemostasis that also function as crucial effectors capable of modulating inflammatory and immune responses. These innate immune sensors continually survey their environment and discriminate between homeostatic and danger signals. Components of the extracellular matrix (ECM) are detected by platelets as ‘damage associated-molecular patterns’ and can elicit pro-inflammatory responses. One such ECM component, the glycosaminoglycan hyaluronan (HA), acquires a unique ‘cable-like’ structure in response to inflammation. Our research has shown that:(1) HA cable formation precedes inflammatory cell infiltration,(2) HA cables produced by the endothelium recruit leukocytes,(3) the HA-degrading enzyme Hyal-2 is required for platelet biogenesis, and (4) the platelet-derived enzyme Hyal-2 degrades HA cables. Therefore, understanding the interplay between HA synthesis by the endothelium and platelet-mediated HA degradation will provide new insights into inflammatory pathways and generate novel strategies generalizable to other vascular inflammatory diseases such as cardiovascular disease and atherosclerosis.