John Bjarne Hansen  –  Professor

Sigrid Kufaas Brækkan  –  Professor

Omri Snir  –  Associate Professor

Thor Ueland  –  Professor II

Vania Maris Morelli  –  Researcher

Nadezhda Latysheva  –  Research technician

Samantha Swamy  –  Doctoral Research Fellow

Lisa Jakobsen  –  PhD student

Maryam Hosseini  –  Doctoral Research Fellow

Eduarda Mazagao Guerreiro  –  Researcher

Christopher Antoun  –  Doctoral Research Fellow

Kristian Dalsbø Hindberg  –  Researcher

Celina Janene Cathro  –  Doctoral Research Fellow

Carl Arne Løchen Arnesen  –  Doctoral Research Fellow

Christabel Esi Damoah  –  Doctoral Research Fellow

Ellen-Sofie Wulff Eilertsen  –  PhD student

Oda Gabrielle R. Leknessund  –  MD PhD student (Forskerlinja)

Anna Yang Arntzen  –  MD PhD student (Forskerlinja)

Nikolai Hagensen Eide  –  MD PhD student (Forskerlinja)

Inga Røstvold  –  MD PhD student (Forskerlinja)

Mathias Haugmo Storvand  –  MD PhD student (Forskerlinja)

Asbjørn Lund Onsaker  –  MD PhD student (Forskerlinja)

Vårin Eiriksdatter Wikan  –  MD PhD student (Forskerlinja)

Camilla Langholm  –  MD PhD student (Forskerlinja)

Improved survival in cancer patients with venous thrombosis

The formation of venous blood clots in the deep veins of the body or in the blood vessels of the lungs, also known as venous thromboembolism (VTE), is a common and potentially fatal condition in cancer. Our recent research data show improved survival in cancer patients with VTE.

You can also read an interview on NRK (in Norwegian) with the first author here

Treatment of cancer and VTE has improved in recent decades, but to what extent these improvements have been accompanied by improved survival for cancer patients with VTE remains unclear. Nikolai H. Eide, an MD/PhD student at the Thrombosis Research Group (TREC), and his colleagues at UiT and UNN sought to answer this question by investigating the changes in mortality over the last three decades for cancer patients with VTE.

The researchers analyzed data from two large Norwegian population-based studies, the Tromsø Study and the Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT). A total of 111,119 participants were followed from 1994 to 2019 to explore changes in mortality rates among cancer patients with VTE.

We found that the proportion of patients who died within 1 year after the diagnosis of cancer-related VTE decreased from 62% to 45% in the period 1994 to 2019. The improved survival over time was particularly seen for cancer patients without metastasis, that is, without spread of the cancer cells in the body at the time of cancer diagnosis.

While the study did not pinpoint the exact reasons for the improved survival of cancer-related VTE, several factors might have contributed, especially those related to the major advances in cancer treatment that have been achieved in recent decades. The findings from Eide and colleagues give hope for the future of cancer patients, their families and doctors, and form the basis for further research dedicated to improve the survival in cancer patients with VTE.

Reference: Eide NH, Langholm C, Rinde FB, Van Es N, Hveem K, Brækkan SK, Hansen JB, Morelli VM. Mortality risk after cancer-related venous thromboembolism has decreased over the last three decades: the HUNT and Tromsø studies. Haematologica 2025. Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39945012/

Proteome wide study reveals novel biomarkers for VTE

In a large proteome-wide analysis of over 7000 proteins, we have discovered five new protein candidates associated with venous thromboembolism (VTE)

A systematic profiling of the plasma proteome can provide new insight into molecular pathways involved in the pathogenesis of venous thromboembolism (VTE) and reveal potential predictive biomarkers or drug targets. Previous proteomic studies on VTE were restricted to up to 500 proteins. Therefore, we performed a large proteome-wide discovery case-cohort study of individuals who developed VTE within the five years after baseline blood sampling (n=294) and a randomly sampled subcohort (n=1066) derived from the Trøndelag Health Study. We screened plasma samples for >7000 proteins using the SomaScan aptamer-based proteomics platform. In the proteome wide analyses, 7 proteins were significantly associated with future VTE after correction for multiple testing. Of these, 5 proteins were novel candidates associated with VTE. Protein pathway analyses of the top-ranked 200 proteins associated with VTE revealed significant enrichment of 9 proteins in the complement and coagulation pathways, particularly the lectin pathway of the complement system and the intrinsic coagulation pathway.

Link to publication: 

Braekkan et al. The Plasma Proteome and Risk of Future Venous Thromboembolism-Results from the HUNT Study

New finding: MicroRNA associated with lower risk of VTE!

Recent findings suggest that miR-145 may be protective against thrombosis.

MicroRNAs (miRs) are small non-coding RNAs that downregulate gene expression. Interestingly, miR-145 has been reported to downregulate the expression of important factors in the coagulation system (tissue factor and factor XI) in vitro. Furthermore, miR-145 has be shown to decrease venous thrombus formation in a mouse model.

In a recent paper, published in Blood, we investigated the association between plasma levels of miR-145 and risk of future VTE. We found that plasma levels of miR-145 were inversely associated with VTE risk. Participants with miR-145 levels in the highest quartile had a 49% lower risk of VTE compared with those with miR-145 in the lowest quartile, and this association remained after adjustment for several potential confounders. Our observation of a protective role of miR-145 for VTE, implies that miR-145 could be a potential target for VTE prevention in the future.

Link to the publication:

Morelli et al. High microRNA-145 plasma levels are associated with decreased risk of future incident venous thromboembolism - The HUNT study.