Emerging role of stem cell memory-like T cell in immune thrombocytopenia

Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is an acquired autoimmune disease characterized by autoantibody-mediated platelet destruction. Multiple factors have been implicated in ITP pathogenesis, including T-lymphocyte dysfunctions. Increasing studies have indicated that stem cell memory-like T cell (TSCM) plays an important role in the development of multiple autoimmune diseases. This study aimed to explore the clinical correlation between the TSCM subset and ITP. The percentages of peripheral blood naïve T cells (TNs), TSCMs, central memory T cells (TCMs), effector memory T cells (TEMs) and effector T cells (TEs) among CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells in 20 ITP patients before and after treatment were detected using flow cytometry. Our results showed that the percentages of peripheral blood CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells in ITP patients were imbalanced. The percentage of CD8⁺ TSCMs in peripheral blood before treatment in ITP patients was significantly higher than that in healthy controls, whereas the percentages of the other T cell subsets did not exhibit significant differences. Our study further analysed the correlation between the change in the percentage of CD8⁺ TSCMs and the treatment efficacy. The results showed that the percentage of peripheral blood CD8⁺ TSCMs in ITP patients after glucocorticoid treatment significantly decreased and the changes of the percentages of CD8⁺ TSCMs before and after treatment in complete response (CR) and response (R) patients were obvious. Our finding showed that the imbalance of the percentage of CD8⁺ TSCMs might be involved in the development of ITP and might serve as a novel indicator of efficacy.