School of Medicine researchers, including Collin Evans, Jonathan Kennedy, Molly Maranto, Jonathan Davis, Xiaoqin Wang and Mohamad Azhar are part of a team studying venous thrombus formation and resolution. Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism are conditions where blood clots block veins. Together, they are called venous thromboembolism, affecting about 900,000 people in the U.S. each year. While we have learned more about DVT recently, current treatments help stop clots from growing but can cause bleeding and don't speed up the body's natural way of clearing clots.

Certain proteins, called cytokines, play a role in how DVT forms and clears up. One important group of these proteins is the TGF-β family. Understanding how TGF-β proteins control clot formation and resolution could lead to new treatments for DVT. This review looks at studies on TGF-β proteins, especially TGF-β1, TGF-β2, and TGF-β3. TGF-β1 is known to help form clots and slow down their resolution. More research is needed to understand the roles of TGF-β2 and TGF-β3. Since TGF-β1 levels go up during DVT and reducing TGF-β1 can lower clot burden, TGF-β1 might be useful for diagnosing DVT, and TGF-β1 inhibitors might be useful for treating DVT.

Learn more about the study:

Transforming Growth Factors in Venous Thrombus Formation and Resolution.
Davis J, Maranto M, Kennedy J, Wang X, Azhar M, Jain A, Evans CE. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2025 Mar 20. doi: 10.1161/ATVBAHA.124.322395. Online ahead of print. PMID: 40109257 Review.