Clinical Significance
The heparin:PF4 complex is the antigen in heparin-induced thrombocytopenia, an idiosyncratic autoimmune reaction to the administration of the anticoagulant heparin. PF4 autoantibodies have also been found in patients with thrombosis and features resembling HIT but no prior administration of heparin.
The human platelet factor 4 kills malaria parasites within erythrocytes by selectively lysing the parasite's digestive vacuole.
Read more about this topic: Platelet Factor 4
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“The hysterical find too much significance in things. The depressed find too little.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)