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What is ITP?

ITP definitionImmune Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), sometimes referred to as Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura, occurs when your body’s immune system destroys its own platelets, in the same way it would destroy harmful invaders such as bacteria. Platelets are important for helping the blood to clot and stop bleeding.

Usually when foreign invaders (pathogens) are detected by the immune system, the body makes antibodies which then coat the bacteria, marking them for destruction. In ITP, the body mistakenly produces antibodies against its own platelets. The immune system has lost some of its ability to distinguish between foreign substances and the body’s own cells. The antibody-coated platelets are destroyed by specialized cells called macrophages, which exist in large numbers in the spleen.

In some patients, the low platelet counts seen in ITP may be due to impaired platelet production that may occur along with antibody-mediated destruction of platelets1,2

 

View the Animation to learn more about ITP, the immune system, and how
WinRho® SDF works.

Incidence of ITP

  • Estimated incidence of ITP is 100 cases per million per year.2
  • The Platelet Disorder Support Association (PDSA) estimates that there are approximately 200,000 people in the United States with ITP. 3
  • Recent studies show similar incidence of ITP in newly diagnosed men and women, with highest incidence in those over 60 years of age.4
  1. Ballem P.J., Segal G.M., Stratton J.R., Gernsheimer T, Adamson JW, Slichter SJ. Mechanisms of thrombocytopenia in chronic autoimmune thrombocytopenic purpura. Evidence of both impaired platelet production and increased platelet clearance. J Clin Invest. 1987;80:33-40.
  2. Cines D.B., Blanchette V.S. Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura. New England Journal of Medicine. 2002; 346(13): 995-1008.
  3. Platelet Disorder Support Association website 2007. About ITP. Available at: http://www.pdsa.org/itp-information/index.html.
    Accessed September 7, 2007.
  4. Neylon et al. Clinically significant newly presenting autoimmune thrombocytopenic purpura in adults: a prospective study of a population-based cohort of 245 patients. Br J Haematol. 2003; 122:966-974.