Platelet transcriptomics sense disease states

Platelets are circulating cellular fragments derived from megakaryocytes in the bone marrow and continually sense the vessel endothelium for damage and initiate primary hemostasis.1 What has become clear over the many years is that in addition to their primary role in hemostasis, platelets are also multifunctional and are key players in many other physiological and pathological processes e.g. wound repair, inflammatory processes and the immune response.2–4 In this issue of eBioMedicine, Zhang and colleagues5 advance a provocative idea that platelets are not merely effectors of hemostasis or even passive participants in immunity, but active, information-rich sensors of systemic immune states.