ITP is caused by the body's immune system attacking its own healthy platelets, which leads to an increased risk of various types of bleeding. ITP can occur in both children and adults and is somewhat more common among women. Many patients have few or only mild symptoms, but severe and life-threatening bleeding can occur e.g. intracranial hemorrhages.
– Patients with ITP have traditionally been treated with immunosuppressive drugs in the form of various types of corticosteroid preparations. But long-term use of corticosteroids can lead to serious side effects and patients literally hate this type of drug, says John Semple, research group leader at the Department of Laboratory Medicine.
On the contrary, new therapies such as the thrombopoietin receptor agonists (TPO-RA) are now being used routinely and are not immunosuppressive, but instead stimulate bone marrow megakaryocytes to produce more platelets. These new treatment options have few side effects and have changed the face of ITP treatment and management.
Semple's laboratory, a world leader in ITP research, is continuing to investigate the disease’s pathophysiological mechanisms in order to identify targets of therapy for this autoimmune condition.
– We are beginning to understand much more about the immunopathological mechanisms behind this disease, which has led to several potential new targeted therapies that offer better results and improved quality of life for patients with ITP. These aspects are explored in depth in our article now published in The The Lancet’s eBioMedicine