How do endothelial cells regulate thrombosis?
The normal vascular endothelium contains natural anticoagulants, platelet inhibitors, and fibrinolytic proteins that function in an integrated fashion to maintain vital organ perfusion. Because tissue factor, expressed locally at sites of vessel wall injury and from circulating monocytes [21] plays a pivotal role in the thrombotic phenotype of coronary atherosclerosis, an important surface protein antagonist, tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI), has gained considerable attention. A variety of other surface proteins, including protein C, protein S, protein Z, nitric oxide, glycosaminoglycans, β2-glycoprotein 1, tissue plasminogen activator, urokinase-like plasminogen activator and thrombomodulin among others play critical roles [22–24].