One in 5 patients with cancer will develop a blood clot (thrombosis) during their cancer care and many patients will die from the blood clot. Medications to prevent blood clots are available, but they have risks such bleeding and cannot be used in everyone. Tests that predict blood clot risk are needed to clinically improve patient care. UVM Cancer Center member, Chris Holmes, MD, PhD received an $182,325 National Cancer Institute award to study one such test.

Dr. Holmes’ clinical research study seeks to understand whether a protein which is on the surface of platelets (a blood component that are involved in blood clotting) called FcɣRIIa may be a useful test to identify whether patients are at a high or low risk for blood clotting complications. Further, it is possible that the expression of this protein may help to predict whether cancers recur despite treatment. This study will investigate the expression of this protein with a goal of reducing blood clot complications and improving patient outcomes.

Learn more about the project, titled Platelet FcGammaRIIa and Risk of Venous Thromboembolism in Cancer: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05240508