Autoimmune thrombocytopenia: serological behavior of platelet antibodies

The study of the specificity of platelet autoantibodies has made it possible to expand our knowledge about the immune characterization of idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. We report on a study of eluates obtained from 10 patients' platelets with autoimmune thrombocytopenia. They were tested with platelets obtained from healthy donors (Zw a + and Zw a-) and with type I Glanzmann platelets. Our results, as those reported by van Leeuwen et al. in 1982, suggest that the autoantibodies recognize one or more antigenic markers probably carried by glycoproteins IIb and IIIa.