Background: Interleukin (IL)-37, a novel anti-inflammatory cytokine previously known as interleukin-1 family member 7 before it was renamed, has a pivotal role in the suppression of immune responses. Objective: The present study aimed to investigate the expression of IL-37 and its potential role in the pathogenesis of immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). Patients and Methods: The study was carried out in Zagazig University Hospital, Pediatric Department. The total sample size was 60 participants divided into 4 groups. They were 45 patients (15 patients with newly diagnosed ITP, 15 patients with complete remission after 1st line therapy and 15 patients with chronic ITP) and 15 age - sex matched healthy children as a control group.
Results: Our study showed that the mean value of age among patients group was (6.89± 4.13) with female predominance than males (60%). The current work showed that regarding history of bleeding tendency it was present in 45 (100%). This study showed the bone marrow examination was done for 8 of our patients (17.8%) and revealed hypercellular megakaryopoiesis. In the current study there was no statistically significant difference between patients group and control group regarding hemoglobin (HB) and white blood cells (WBC). Our study showed that there was no statistically significant correlation between IL 37 level and platelets in patients group.
Conclusion: Accumulating evidence suggests that serum level of IL 37 has a pivotal role in autoimmune diseases. In the present study, the expression of IL-37 in ITP patients was evaluated for the first time in Egypt, but no significant abnormal expression of IL-37 was identified in these patients. It was therefore concluded that serum level of IL 37 may not have a pivotal role in the development of ITP.