Background: In children, immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) constitutes one of the most acquired bleeding disorders. There is abundant proof that T cells and their release of cytokines are essential for regulating anti-platelet autoantibodies.
Objective: The purpose of this study was to ascertain the expression of CXCL13 in the serum of children with ITP, as well as the therapeutic utility and correlation of this biomarker to laboratory and clinical characteristics pertaining to the severity, activity, and response to therapy of ITP disease.
Patients and Methods: The study was conducted on 60 patients suffering from ITP and 40 healthy children. subgroups: Patients with acute ITP before treatment with steroids, Patients with acute ITP after treatment with steroids, Patients with chronic ITP. All patients included in this study were subjected to the following: Full history taking with special emphasis on demographic data, age and sex, bleeding symptoms, full clinical examination, complete blood picture with differential count, bone marrow aspiration, detection of serum protein CXCL13 by Enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA).
Results: ITP patients had a significant increase of serum CXCL13 level compared with controls. The serum CXCL13 concentration of acute ITP was higher than that of chronic ITP. Serum CXCL13 level was significantly decreased in ITP after treatment, which was found to drop near serum control level.
Conclusion: the study concluded that serum CXCL13 was suggested to have a role in acute ITP pathogenesis and may be used as a biomarker creating a new target for ITP therapy.