White blood cells which ‘remember’ past inflammation events are quick to overreact, raising the risk of blood clots, new research from RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences has found.

People living with inflammatory conditions, such as inflammatory bowel disease, blood cancers and sickle cell anaemia, can have a higher risk of blood clots.

The new study, published in Science Advances, explores how episodes of inflammation in such diseases can result in the production of myeloid cells that have increased blood-clotting activity, which persists long after the inflammation took place. 

The research, which was carried out by experts at RCSI, FutureNeuro, Trinity College Dublin and Children’s Health Ireland, could help to explain why people living with inflammatory disease can have a relatively high risk of blood clots.

The authors also suggest that the insights from the study could form the basis for targeted treatments to help prevent or manage conditions where the immune system and clotting system are overly active.