Antiphospholipid Syndrome: Molecular Mechanisms and Novel Therapies

Dear Colleagues,

The Special Issue "Antiphospholipid Syndrome: New Diagnostic Markers, Molecular Mechanisms and Novel Therapies" will focus on advances in the characterization, diagnosis, molecular mechanisms, pathophysiology, and treatment of antiphospholipid syndrome (APS).

APS is a systemic autoimmune disease characterized by heterogeneous clinical manifestations mainly involving vascular thrombosis (affecting arterial, venous and microvascular circuits) and obstetric complications, found in association with the presence of circulating antiphospholipid antibodies (aPLs). If not diagnosed and adequately treated, APS could have a negative impact on the patient's quality of life. In this context, there is a need to explore new methods to refine the diagnosis process and assess disease risk stratification; thus, the identification of new tests for classical criteria aPL assays and non-criteria assays utilizing novel antigenic targets is of great interest. Moreover, new knowledge on the pathogenetic mechanisms of the disease could lead to new treatments that are able to improve the prognosis. Patients with APS show different aPL profiles, which may possibly explain the heterogeneity of the molecular mechanisms underlying the pathophysiology of APS. Nowadays, although it is well documented that these autoantibodies are not only disease markers but are also responsible for the induction of a procoagulant phenotype, the study of their precise contribution in the clinical manifestations of APS is constantly evolving. Various mechanisms have been proposed and others are emerging, contributing to the identification of new therapeutic targets for the management of APS disease using different and personalized therapeutic approaches for patients.

This Special Issue invites investigators to submit original articles or reviews and it may include both basic science and clinical research studies with a translational approach. The collection of papers featured in this Special Issue will support the management of APS in order to prevent inaccurate diagnoses and deleterious consequences for patients.

Dr. Antonella Capozzi
Dr. Simona Truglia
Guest Editors

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• antiphospholipid syndrome
• pathophysiology
• management
• treatment
• antiphospholipid antibodies
• molecular mechanisms
• new biomarkers
• diagnostic tests