Lymphocyte subsets in primary immune thrombocytopenia

The aim of this study was to explore the clinical significance of T-lymphocyte subsets in the peripheral blood of patients with adult primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) in an active phase. T-lymphocyte subsets in the peripheral blood of 90 ITP patients in the active phase and 59 normal controls were detected by flow cytometry. ITP patients were treated with a conventional dose of corticosteroids, and therapeutic response was evaluated after 3 months. The level of CD4 T lymphocytes (35.7 ± 4.6%) and natural killer cells (13.1 ± 2.1%) in the active ITP patients was lower compared with the control group (40.4 ± 3.7% and 23.2 ± 1.1%, respectively, P < 0.05 for both). The level of CD8 T lymphocytes (30.11 ± 4.50%) in ITP showed a significantly wider distribution than that in the normal controls (25.5 ± 5.91%, P < 0.05). Additionally, the patients with higher levels of CD4 T cells were less likely to respond to corticosteroids (r = 0.69, P = 0.04). The detection of immunocyte subsets might be helpful for the ITP patients concerning their diagnosis and determination of therapeutic outcome.