Role of Inflammation in the Pathogenesis of Frailty in the Elderly: Studies on the Contribution of Blood Platelets- PIPAF Platelets in the Pathogenesis of Ageing Associated Frailty

Frailty in the elderly is a syndrome that strongly affects quality of life and represents a major social and economic challenge. Frailty often, and more frequently, occurs in individuals with aging-related diseases including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and Alzheimer's disease. All of these diseases are associated with a state of weak chronic inflammation. Studies in recent years have pointed out that platelets can directly contribute to inflammatory processes. Due to of this ability to act as proinflammatory cells and of their strong involvement in various metabolic, cardiovascular, and neurodegenerative disorders, platelets appear to have key roles in the physio-pathological mechanisms that predispose to frailty.

In the present study, it is planned to recruit 4 cohorts of elderly patients, each of 40 patients, divided by pathology ( frail elderly, diabetic elderly, elderly with stable atherosclerotic coronary artery disease, elderly with early-stage Alzheimer's disease) and a cohort of 40 healthy elderly subjects. All subjects will perform a blood draw at enrollment and after 24 months of follow up in order to evaluate: the state of platelet activation; the aggregating response of platelets to stimuli such as thrombin, Adenosine DiPhosphate (ADP), and collagen; the state of chronic inflammation and oxidative stress; the procoagulant profile of platelets; presence of platelet subpopulations characterized by RNA, microRNA and/or protein profiling. Each subject will also be given a questionnaire to assess frailty status (according to Fried's criteria) and urine samples will be collected to perform the assay of metabolites such as 11dh-TXB, 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) and 8-epiPGF2a (8-isoprostane).