Ní Áinle, Fionnuala

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Ní Áinle, Fionnuala
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Ní Áinle, Fionnuala

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  • Publication
    Thrombin generation correlates with disease duration in multiple sclerosis (MS): Novel insights into the MS-associated prothrombotic state
    (Sage, 2017-12-26)
    Parsons, Martin E.M. 
    ;
    O'Connell, Karen 
    ;
    Allen, Seamus 
    ;
    Egan, Karl 
    ;
    Szklanna, Paulina B 
    ;
    McGuigan, Christopher 
    ;
    Ní Áinle, Fionnuala 
    ;
    Maguire, Patricia B. 
    Background: Thrombin is well recognised for its role in the coagulation cascade but it also plays a role in inflammation, with enhanced thrombin generation observed in several inflammatory disorders. Although patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) have a higher incidence of thrombotic disease, thrombin generation has not been studied to date. Objectives: The aim of this study was to characterise calibrated automated thrombography parameters in patients with relapsing–remitting MS (RRMS) and primary progressive MS (PPMS) in comparison to healthy controls (HCs). Methods: Calibrated automated thrombography was performed on platelet poor plasma from 15 patients with RRMS, 15 with PPMS and 19 HCs. Results: We found that patients with RRMS generate thrombin at a significantly faster rate than the less inflammatory subtype, PPMS or HCs. In addition, the speed of thrombin generation was significantly correlated with time from clinical diagnosis in both subtypes. However, in RRMS the rate of thrombin generation was increased with increased time from clinical diagnosis, while in PPMS the rate of thrombin generation decreased with increased time from clinical diagnosis. Conclusions: These data likely reflect the differential active proinflammatory states in each MS subtype and provide novel mechanistic insights into the clinically relevant prothrombotic state observed in these patients.
      296Scopus© Citations 11
  • Publication
    A Protocol for Improved Precision and Increased Confidence in Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis Concentration Measurements between 50 and 120 nm in Biological Fluids
    (Frontiers Media, 2017-11-03)
    Parsons, Martin E.M. 
    ;
    McParland, Damien 
    ;
    Szklanna, Paulina B 
    ;
    Guang, Matthew Ho Zhi 
    ;
    O'Connell, Karen 
    ;
    O’Connor, Hugh D. 
    ;
    McGuigan, Christopher 
    ;
    Ní Áinle, Fionnuala 
    ;
    McCann, Amanda 
    ;
    Maguire, Patricia B. 
    Nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA) can be used to quantitate extracellular vesicles (EVs) in biological samples and is widely considered a useful diagnostic tool to detect disease. However, accurately profiling EVs can be challenging due to their small size and heterogeneity. Here, we aimed to provide a protocol to facilitate high-precision particle quantitation by NTA in plasma, the supernatant of activated purified platelets [the platelet releasate (PR)] and in serum, to increase confidence in NTA particle enumeration. The overall variance and the precision of NTA measurements were quantified by root mean square error and relative standard error. Using a bootstrapping approach, we found that increasing video replicates from 5 s × 60 s to 25 s × 60 s captures led to a reduction in overall variance and a reproducible increase in the precision of NTA particle-concentration quantitation for all three biofluids. We then validated our approach in an extended cohort of 32 healthy donors. Our results indicate that for vesicles sized between 50 and 120 nm, the precision of routine NTA measurements in serum, plasma, and PR can be significantly improved by increasing the number of video replicates captured. Our protocol provides a common platform to statistical compare particle size distribution profiles in the exosomal-vesicle size range across a variety of biofluids and in both healthy donor and patient groups.
      384Scopus© Citations 37