Platelets and cancer… the plot doesn’t always thicken

Background: Platelets have critical roles in preventing blood loss following injury, promoting wound healing, and in fighting infection through innate immune defense strategies. Key Results: Deficiencies in platelet number or function either as a result of disease, as a consequence of therapy, or both can lead to dramatic and potentially fatal consequences. Conclusions and Inferences: With the advent of new therapeutics targeting pathways within hematological malignant cells that are also important for platelet function, monitoring the state of a patient's haemostasis system is now an important clinical consideration.