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The association between platelet autoantibody specificity and response to intravenous immunoglobulin G in the treatment of patients with immune thrombocytopenia

Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders, Gundersen Lutheran Health System, La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA

Correspondence: Ronald S. Go, Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders, Gundersen Lutheran Health System, EB02-001, 1900 South Avenue, La Crosse, Wisconsin 54601, USA. Phone: international +608.7752139. Fax: international +608.7756627. E-mail: rsgo{at}gundluth.org

We retrospectively investigated the association between platelet autoantibody specificity and response to intravenous immunoglobulin G (IVIG) in 17 patients with immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). Platelet-associated antibodies against glycoprotein (GP) IIb/IIIa, GPIb/IX, and GPIa/IIa were detected in 13, 10, and 8 patients, respectively. A response occurred in 7 of 7 patients without anti-GPIb/IX, but in only 3 of 10 patients with anti-GPIb/IX (p<0.01). There was no difference in the response rates in patients with or without anti-GPIIb/IIIa or anti-GPIa/IIa. We conclude that ITP patients with anti-GPIb/IX may be less responsive to IVIG.

Key words: immune thrombocytopenia, platelet autoantibody specificity, intravenous immunoglobulin.