Evaluation of the in vitro stability of direct oral anticoagulants in blood samples under different storage conditions

Abstract Background: The interfering effects of DOACs on the screening coagulation tests, such as prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), and fibrinogen assay, have been shown mainly by in vitro spiking experiments. However, the effects of DOACs on coagulation tests in real-world samples from anticoagulated patients are unknown because of the difficulty in selectively eliminating DOAC from blood samples already containing DOACs. Method: Citrated blood samples were drawn from patients on anticoagulation therapy (rivaroxaban and edoxaban). In addition, blood samples from patients not on anticoagulation were collected. PT INR and APTT were measured from those samples by coagulometers from two manufacturers (Roche t711, Swiss and ACL-TOP, USA). We also measured DOAC levels from the same samples by anti-FXa activity (Hyphen Biomed, France). Then, we compared the test results in relation to the DOAC levels. Results: The PT INR, APTT, and fibrinogen assay results from non-anticoagulated patients measured by the two coagulometers were comparable (PT INR: y = -3.353 + 1.029 x; APTT: y = -6.276 + 1.101x; fibrinogen: y = -3.353 + 1.029 x; Passing Bablok). We included blood samples from 61 patients on rivaroxaban and 75 patients on edoxaban. From the rivaroxaban samples we observed the regression line change for PT INR (y = 0.6303 + 0.3712x) and for APTT (y = -10.71+1.358x). The comparability of fibrinogen assay was not affected significantly (y = -17.39+1.01x). From the edoxaban samples we also observed the similar change of the regression line (PT INR: y = 0.4728 + 0.5661x; APTT: y = -133.07+2.014x). Fibrinogen levels were comparable (y = -28.95+1.082x). Conclusion: The susceptibility of screening coagulation tests to the interfering effects of in vivo DOAC is dependent on the reagents and coagulometers. Figure 1 Figure 1. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

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Heparin is more effective than apixaban in inhibiting in vitro contact activated coagulation

European Heart Journal ◽

10.1093/ehjci/ehaa946.3776 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 41 (Supplement_2) ◽

Author(s):

M.M Engelen ◽

C Van Laer ◽

M Jacquemin ◽

C Vandenbriele ◽

K Peerlinck ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Thrombin Generation ◽

Heart Valves ◽

Thrombus Formation ◽

Oral Anticoagulants ◽

Direct Oral Anticoagulants ◽

Factor Xa ◽

Coagulation Factor ◽

Mechanical Heart Valves ◽

Contact Activation

Abstract Introduction Contact of blood with artificial surfaces such as mechanical support devices, catheters, and mechanical heart valves activates the contact activation (CA) pathway of coagulation. Furthermore, recent animal data and clinical studies suggest a more important contribution of CA in pathological thrombus formation in other cardiovascular diseases. Direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) are recommended as first-line treatment in most patients who require long-term anticoagulation. However, because DOACs directly inhibit a single downstream coagulation factor (thrombin (fXIIa) or factor Xa (fXa)), it has been suggested that their efficacy could be reduced in the presence of strong activation of the CA pathway as compared to anticoagulants that target multiple, more upstream located coagulation factors. Purpose To compare the efficacy of a DOAC (apixaban) and heparin to suppress thrombin generation in the presence of strong CA pathway activation. Methods Pooled platelet-poor plasma was spiked with either apixaban (dissolved in DMSO and PBS) or unfractionated heparin to achieve therapeutic plasma levels. SynthASil, a commercially available mixture of phospholipids and silica, was used to stimulate the CA pathway in two different dilutions (1–80 and 5–80). Downstream coagulation was accessed by Thrombin Generation Test using Thrombinoscope by Stago and associated Thrombin Calibrator (activity 640 nM). The endogenous thrombin potential (area under the thrombin generation curve; ETP), peak thrombin generation (PTG), time to peak (ttPeak) and time to start (ttStart) were accessed. Results With decreasing concentrations of apixaban, stimulation with the lower dose SynthASil reveals an increasing ETP and PTG. As expected, ttPeak and ttStart decreased. Even supratherapeutic levels of apixaban (i.e. 1120 ng/mL) could not inhibit thrombin from being generated, in striking contrast with UFH where no thrombin was formed. Using a five times higher dose of SynthASil showed comparable ETP for all concentrations of apixaban, allocated around the control value. PTG, however, slightly increased with decreasing concentrations of apixaban. ttPeak and ttStart slightly decreased. Except for the subtherapeutic UFH concentration of 0,114 IU/mL, no thrombin was generated with UFH. Conclusion UFH is more effective in inhibiting downstream thrombin generation compared to apixaban as a response to activation of the CA pathway in vitro. These findings could help explain why direct inhibitors were not able to show non-inferiority in patients with mechanical heart valves and support the development of specific CA pathway inhibitors for patients with conditions that activate the CA pathway. Thrombin generation curves Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding source: None

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Effects of direct oral anticoagulants on lupus anticoagulant assays in a real-life setting

Thrombosis and Haemostasis ◽

10.1160/th17-03-0204 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 117 (09) ◽

pp. 1700-1704 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Aleksandra Antovic ◽

Eva-Marie Norberg ◽

Maria Berndtsson ◽

Agnes Rasmuson ◽

Rickard E. Malmström ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Lupus Anticoagulant ◽

Oral Anticoagulants ◽

Direct Oral Anticoagulants ◽

Plasma Concentrations ◽

Real Life ◽

Laboratory Diagnosis ◽

Real Life Setting ◽

Confirmatory Tests ◽

Coagulation Assay

SummaryLaboratory diagnosis of lupus anticoagulant (LA) is based on prolongation in at least one coagulation assay (diluted Russell’s viper venom time – dRVVT or activated partial thromboplastin time – aPTT), which normalises after addition of phospholipids. Both assays may be influenced by anticoagulants and therefore LA should not be tested during warfarin or heparin treatment. It has been shown (primarily in vitro) that direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs – dabigatran [DAB], rivaroxaban [RIV] and apixaban [API]) may also influence LA testing. We tested the effects of DOACs on assays routinely used for the diagnosis of LA in patients treated with these drugs in a real-life setting. Plasma from patients with atrial fibrillation treated with DAB (n=30), RIV (n=20) and API (n=17) and not known to have LA were tested using dRVVT (LA-screen and LA-confirm, Life Diagnostics) and aPTT (PTT-LA, Diagnostica Stago and aPTT Actin FS, Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics) assays. According to the diagnostics algorithm, dRVVT and aPTT ratios of <1.2 were considered negative, ratios of >1.4 positive, while if the ratios were 1.2–1.4 LA could not be ruled out. Plasma concentrations varied between 8–172 µg/l for DAB, 8–437 µg/l for RIV and 36–178 µg/l for API. LA diagnosis was negative in only eight (27 %) plasma samples from patients treated with DAB, and in five (25 %) and four samples (24 %) from patients treated with RIV and API, respectively. LA Positivity (dRVVT and aPTT ratios >1.4) was found in 5 cases (17 %) among patients treated with DAB, in 10 cases (50 %) treated with RIV and in 7 cases (41 %) treated with API. A concentration-dependent effect of DOACs on dRVVT-based parameters was observed, particularly as regards DAB. At lower concentrations, RIV and API had only minor effects on the confirmatory tests (below 100 µg/l and 70 µg/l, respectively). Our results suggest that a risk of overestimation of LA detection is present in samples from patients treated with DOACs. Therefore, LA testing should not be performed during treatment with DOACs. Prolongation in confirmatory assays may be helpful for the recognition of false positivity, especially as regards DAB.

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Danger of false negative (exclusion) or false positive (diagnosis) for ‘congenital thrombophilia’ in the age of anticoagulants

Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM) ◽

10.1515/cclm-2018-1041 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 57 (6) ◽

pp. 873-882 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Emmanuel J. Favaloro

Keyword(s):

False Positive ◽

Ex Vivo ◽

Oral Anticoagulants ◽

Direct Oral Anticoagulants ◽

False Negative ◽

Factor V Leiden ◽

Protein S ◽

Factor V ◽

Increased Risk

Abstract Background Most guidelines and experts recommend against performance of thrombophilia testing in general, and specifically against testing patients on pharmacological anticoagulants, due to substantially increased risk of false positive identification. For example, vitamin K antagonist (VKA) therapy affects protein C (PC) and protein S (PS), as well as some clotting assays (e.g. as used to investigate activated PC resistance [APCR]). Although heparin may also affect clotting assays, most commercial methods contain neutralisers to make them ‘insensitive’ to therapeutic levels. Direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) also affect a wide variety of thrombophilia assays, although most reported data has employed artificial in vitro spiked samples. Methods In the current report, data from our facility for the past 2.5 years has been assessed for all ‘congenital thrombophilia’ related tests, as evaluated against patient anticoagulant status. We processed 10,571 ‘thrombophilia’ related test requests, including antithrombin (AT; n=3470), PC (n=3569), PS (n=3585), APCR (n=2359), factor V Leiden (FVL; n=2659), and prothrombin gene mutation (PGM; n=2103). Results As expected, VKA therapy affected PC and PS, and despite manufacturer claims, also APCR. Most assays, as suggested by manufacturers, were largely resistant to heparin therapy. DOACs’ use was associated with falsely low APCR ratios (i.e. FVL-like effect) and somewhat unexpectedly, anti-Xa agents apixaban and rivaroxaban were also associated with lower AT and higher PS values. Conclusions It is concluded that ex-vivo data appears to confirm the potential for both false positive and false negative ‘thrombophilia’ events in patients on anticoagulant (including DOAC) treatment.

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Point-of-care testing for emergency assessment of coagulation in patients treated with direct oral anticoagulants including edoxaban

Neurological Research and Practice ◽

10.1186/s42466-021-00105-4 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Florian Härtig ◽

Ingvild Birschmann ◽

Andreas Peter ◽

Sebastian Hörber ◽

Matthias Ebner ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Blood Sample ◽

Point Of Care ◽

Oral Anticoagulants ◽

Direct Oral Anticoagulants ◽

Rapid Assessment ◽

Plasma Concentrations ◽

Test System ◽

Systematic Evaluation ◽

Operating Characteristics ◽

Blood Samples

Abstract Background Direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC) including edoxaban are increasingly used for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation. Despite treatment, annual stroke rate in these patients remains 1–2%. Rapid assessment of coagulation would be useful to guide thrombolysis or reversal therapy in this growing population of DOAC/edoxaban-treated stroke patients. Employing the Hemochron™ Signature Elite point-of-care test system (HC-POCT), clinically relevant plasma concentrations of dabigatran and rivaroxaban can be excluded in a blood sample. However, no data exists on the effect of edoxaban on HC-POCT results. We evaluated whether edoxaban plasma concentrations above the current treatment thresholds for thrombolysis or anticoagulation reversal (i.e., 30 and 50 ng/mL) can be ruled out with the HC-POCT. Methods We prospectively studied patients receiving a first dose of edoxaban. Six blood samples were collected from each patient: before, 0.5, 1, 2, 8, and 24 h after drug intake. HC-POCT-based INR (HC-INR), activated clotting time (HC-ACT+ and HC-ACT-LR), activated partial thromboplastin time (HC-aPTT), and mass spectrometry for edoxaban plasma concentrations were performed at each time-point. We calculated correlations, receiver operating characteristics (ROC) and test-specific cut-offs for ruling out edoxaban concentrations > 30 and > 50 ng/mL in a blood sample. Results One hundred twenty blood samples from 20 edoxaban-treated patients were analyzed. Edoxaban plasma concentrations ranged from 0 to 512 ng/mL. HC-INR/HC-ACT+/HC-ACT-LR/HC-aPTT ranged from 0.7–8.3/78–310 s/65–215 s/19–93 s, and Pearson’s correlation coefficients showed moderate to very strong correlations with edoxaban concentrations (r = 0.95/0.79/0.70/0.60). With areas under the ROC curve of 0.997 (95% confidence interval: 0.991–0.971) and 0.989 (0.975–1.000), HC-INR most reliably ruled out edoxaban concentrations > 30 and > 50 ng/mL, respectively, and HC-INR results ≤1.5 and ≤ 2.1 provided specificity/sensitivity of 98.6% (91.2–99.9)/98.0% (88.0–99.9) and 96.8% (88.0–99.4)/96.5% (86.8–99.4). Conclusions Our study represents the first systematic evaluation of the HC-POCT in edoxaban-treated patients. Applying sufficiently low assay-specific cut-offs, the HC-POCT may not only be used to reliably rule out dabigatran and rivaroxaban, but also very low edoxaban concentrations in a blood sample. Because the assay-specific cut-offs were retrospectively defined, further investigation is warranted. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov, registration number: NCT02825394, registered on: 07/07/2016, URL

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FXa-α2-Macroglobulin Complex Neutralizes Direct Oral Anticoagulants Targeting FXa In Vitro and In Vivo

Thrombosis and Haemostasis ◽

10.1055/s-0038-1667014 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 118 (09) ◽

pp. 1535-1544 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Georges Jourdi ◽

Isabelle Gouin-Thibault ◽

Virginie Siguret ◽

Sophie Gandrille ◽

Pascale Gaussem ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bleeding Time ◽

Oral Anticoagulants ◽

Direct Oral Anticoagulants ◽

Factor Xa ◽

Rotational Thromboelastometry ◽

Α2 Macroglobulin ◽

Number Of Patients ◽

Attractive Candidate

Increasing number of patients are treated with direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC). An antidote for dabigatran inhibiting thrombin (idarucizumab) is available but no antidote is yet approved for the factor Xa (FXa) inhibitors (xabans). We hypothesized that a complex between Gla-domainless FXa and α2-macroglobulin (GDFXa-α2M) may neutralize the xabans without interfering with normal blood coagulation.Purified α2M was incubated with GDFXa to form GDFXa-α2M. Affinity of apixaban and rivaroxaban for GDFXa-α2M was only slightly decreased compared to FXa. Efficacy and harmlessness of GDFXa-α2M were tested in vitro and in vivo. Stoichiometric excess of GDFXa-α2M neutralized rivaroxaban and apixaban as attested by clot waveform assay and rotational thromboelastometry, whereas GDFXa-α2M alone had no effect on these assays. Efficacy and pro-thrombotic potential of GDFXa-α2M were also assessed in vivo. Half-life of GDFXa-α2M in C57BL6 mice was 4.9 ± 1.1 minutes, but a 0.5 mg/mouse dose resulted in uptake saturation such that 50% persistence was still observed after 170 minutes. Single administration of GDFXa-α2M significantly decreased the rivaroxaban-induced bleeding time (p < 0.001) and blood loss (p < 0.01). GDFXa-α2M did not increase D-dimer or thrombin–antithrombin complex formation, suggesting a lack of pro-thrombotic potential.GDFXa-α2M is therefore an attractive candidate for xaban neutralization neither pro- nor anticoagulant in vitro as well as in vivo.

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Influence of storage conditions on in vitro stability of atrial natriuretic peptide and of anesthesia on plasma atrial natriuretic peptide concentration in cats

American Journal of Veterinary Research ◽

10.2460/ajvr.77.8.854 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 77 (8) ◽

pp. 854-859 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Yasuhiro Heishima ◽

Yasutomo Hori ◽

Seishiro Chikazawa ◽

Kazutaka Kanai ◽

Fumio Hoshi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Atrial Natriuretic Peptide ◽

Natriuretic Peptide ◽

Storage Conditions ◽

Plasma Atrial Natriuretic Peptide ◽

Peptide Concentration ◽

In Vitro Stability ◽

Atrial Natriuretic

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Point-of-care testing of coagulation in patients treated with edoxaban

Journal of Thrombosis and Thrombolysis ◽

10.1007/s11239-020-02143-2 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 50 (3) ◽

pp. 632-639

Author(s):

Florian Härtig ◽

Ingvild Birschmann ◽

Andreas Peter ◽

Sebastian Hörber ◽

Matthias Ebner ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Point Of Care ◽

Oral Anticoagulants ◽

Direct Oral Anticoagulants ◽

High Specificity ◽

Current Treatment ◽

Point Of Care Testing ◽

Blood Samples ◽

Point Of Care Test ◽

Treatment Thresholds ◽

Time Point

Abstract Edoxaban, alongside other direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC), is increasingly used for prevention of thromboembolism, including stroke. Despite DOAC therapy, however, annual stroke rate in patients with atrial fibrillation remains 1–2%. Rapid exclusion of relevant anticoagulation is necessary to guide thrombolysis or reversal therapy but, so far, no data exists on the effect of edoxaban on available point-of-care test systems (POCT). To complete our previous investigation on global coagulation-POCT for the detection of DOAC, we evaluated whether CoaguChek®-INR (CC-INR) is capable of safely ruling out edoxaban concentrations above the current treatment thresholds of 30/50 ng/mL in a blood sample. We studied patients receiving a first dose of edoxaban; excluding subjects receiving other anticoagulants. Six blood samples were collected from each patient: before drug intake, 0.5, 1, 2 and 8 h after intake, and at trough (24 h). CC-INR and mass spectrometry for edoxaban concentrations were performed for each time-point. One hundred and twenty blood samples from 20 patients contained 0–302 ng/mL of edoxaban. CC-INR ranged from 0.9 to 2.3. Pearson’s correlation coefficient showed strong correlation between CC-INR and edoxaban concentrations (r = 0.73, p < 0.001). Edoxaban concentrations > 30 and > 50 ng/mL were ruled out by CC-INR ≤ 1.0 and ≤ 1.1, respectively, with high specificity (> 95%), and a sensitivity of 44% (95%-confidence interval: 30–59%) and 86% (74–93%), respectively. Our study represents the first evaluation of coagulation-POCT in edoxaban-treated patients. CC-POCT is suitable to safely exclude clinically relevant edoxaban concentrations prior to thrombolysis, or guide reversal therapy in stroke patients.

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