Altered cytokine levels in pediatric ITP

Abstract

Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is an autoimmune disease where platelets are destroyed prematurely. In the majority of children, the disease resolves, but in some, it becomes chronic. Cytokines are important mediators of the immune response and are known to be dysregulated in autoimmune diseases. Therefore, our aim was to investigate differences in plasma levels of cytokines between children with ITP and healthy controls. We had two cohorts of children: one Swedish with 18 children with ITP and seven healthy children and a second Chinese one with 58 children with ITP and 30 healthy children. Plasma levels of chemokine (C-X3-C motif) ligand 1 (CX3CL1), transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1), and interleukin 22 (IL-22) were analyzed in both cohorts using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs). We found lower plasma levels of TGF-β1 and elevated levels of CX3CL1 and IL-22 in children with ITP compared with controls in both the Swedish and the Chinese cohort. In conclusion, all three cytokines differ between pediatric ITP and healthy controls and may, therefore, be potential biomarkers for the disease.

• Cytokines
• ITP
• pediatrics

Declaration of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest. Work in the authors’ laboratory is supported by grants from the Swedish Federal Government under the LUA/ALF agreement, Samariten Foundation, Tai Shan Scholar Foundation, National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 81070396, 81070408, 81070407, 81070411, 81100334, 81100335, 81100336, 81100348, 81101869, 81170475, 81200344, and 81270578), National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (No. 81125002), 973 Program (Nos. 2009CB521904 and 2011CB503906), State Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China for Innovative Research Group 2011–2013 (No. 81021001), National Public Health Grand Research Foundation (No. 201202017), Key Clinical Research Project of Public Health Ministry of China 2010–2012, Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (Nos. ZR2010HQ002, ZR2010CQ040, and Y2008C121), National Key Vocational School About Clinical Specialty for Blood Disorders, Clinical Medicine Center Foundation of Shandong Province, Leading Medical Professionals Foundation of Shandong Province, Outstanding Young Scientist Research Award Foundation of Shandong Province (Nos. BS2010YY024, BS2010YY039, BS2011SW013, and BS2011YY021), the Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (No. 20100131120058) and Independent Innovation Foundation of Shandong University (No. 26010172611135).

Supplementary material available online

Supplementary Tables 1 and 2.