Serum Interleukin 27 Level in Pediatric Patients with Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP

Abstract

mmune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is one of the most common immune-mediated acquired bleeding disorders in children and adults characterized by transient or persistent decrease of the platelet count and increased risk of bleeding depending on the degree of thrombocytopenia. There are increased megakaryocytes in the bone marrow. The incidence of ITP is 4 - 5/100,000 children per year. Acute ITP is basically self-limiting disease; however, around 20 % of patients with newly diagnosed ITP develop chronic ITP. ITP mainly affects the platelet count in the blood. ITP can be classified as acute, chronic or recurrent. The acute form is a temporary condition, which persists for less than 3 months and affects mainly children while the chronic stage might last more than 12 months and affects adults more, the recurrent form is multiple incidents of thrombocytopenia in the period of over 3 months. ITP results from an auto-immune mechanism or from impaired thrombopoiesis. Children with ITP can present at any age, but there is a peak between two and five years and a smaller peak in adolescence. There is a slight predominance of boys to girls, especially in infants. IL-27 is a heterodimeric cytokine with many different activities. Structurally, IL-27 is most closely related to IL-12 and IL-23 because it is composed of one subunit that resembles the p40 subunit of IL-12 (called EBI3;