Platelet lipidomics: a window of opportunity to assess cardiovascular risk?

This editorial refers to ‘Regulation of oxidized platelet lipidome: implications for coronary artery disease’‡, by M. Chatterjee et al., on page 1993. Novel biomarkers that accurately report the risk of cardiovascular events such as myocardial infarction have long been sought after. This is driven by the need to inform clinical diagnostic pathways and to optimize therapeutic approaches with the ultimate aim of reducing cardiovascular mortality and morbidity. Technical advances in the sensitivity, precision, and throughput of analytical instruments have recently facilitated unprecedented profiling approaches to identify specific mRNA, microRNA, genetic, proteomic, metabolomic, and, most recently, lipidomic profiles associated with cardiovascular risk.1 , 2 Plasma has been the major compartment utilised in such profiling studies, while urine has also attracted interest, particularly for proteomic profiling.2 , 3 In this issue of the journal, Chatterjee et al. 4 go a step further and perform lipidomic profiling in patients with coronary artery disease in a specific cellular compartment of the blood—the platelet.