Pathogenic PF4/Polyanion ELISA-Negative Antibodies in HIT

Platelet factor 4-polyanion enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) are considered highly sensitive for diagnosing heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT), such that current practice guidelines recommend use of ELISA-negative results to exclude HIT. Once HIT is ruled out, alternative, non-heparin-based anticoagulant treatments are ceased, and heparin reintroduction frequently occurs.

Antigen-based and PF4-dependent functional testing were used to study PF4/polyvinylsulfonate ELISA-negative platelet-activating antibodies in HIT-suspected patients.

Three patients with clinical presentations consistent with HIT tested negative in an ELISA using PF4-polyvinylsulfonate (PF4/PVS), an antigenic target very commonly used for HIT antibody screening. All three patients demonstrated PF4-dependent platelet activation in functional testing that was sensitive to blockade of platelet FcγRIIa receptors and inhibited by high concentrations of heparin, consistent with pathogenic HIT antibodies. Functional testing-based screening of 500 ELISA-negative patients identified three additional patients whose sera activated platelets in a PF4- and FcγRIIa-dependent manner and had clinical histories consistent with HIT. Five of the six ELISA-negative HIT patients were re-exposed to heparin, which precipitated a decrease in platelet counts in all re-exposed patients, and one patient developed a new thrombus.

Recognition of ELISA-negative HIT is critical to avoid harm due to the cessation of alternative anticoagulation therapy and re-exposure of these patients to heparin.