Introduction: Monocytes are the cells that play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of liver damage and liver
cirrhosis (LC), and as platelets, by connecting hemostasis and inflammatory processes, participate in
pathogenesis of chronic liver diseases, we aimed to investigate the presence of monocyte-platelet aggregates
and platelet micro-particles (PMPs) and their role in LC.
Patients and methods: The study included 60 patients with post-hepatitic LC and 20 healthy controls.
Activated monocytes (CD11b, HLA-DR, CD14, CD16), monocyte-platelet aggregates (CD41/CD14), activated
platelets (CD41/CD62) and PMPs were analyzed by flow cytometry. Their relations to the clinical and
laboratory data were assessed in the studied group.
Results: Patients with LC had higher levels of activated platelets, activated monocytes and monocyte-platelet
aggregations as compared to healthy controls. PMPs percentage showed no significant differences between
patients and controls but significantly increased in both patients with no bleeding and patients with
splenomegaly compared to patients without. All studied markers showed no significant differences between
patients with thrombocytopenia and those with normal platelet counts and also between patients with
different disease stages. Positive correlations between monocyte-platelet aggregates and both activated
platelets and monocytes were demonstrated. There were significant negative correlations between PMPs
and both age and prothrombin time among patients.
Conclusions: The stage of post-hepatitic LC is not the only factor that affects the level of activated platelets,
activated monocytes and monocyte-platelet aggregates. PMPs have no influence on thrombocytopenia but
may have the potential to influence the progression of clotting activity in LC.