The Role of Interferon γ in the Diagnosis and Prognosis of Childhood Primary Immune Thrombocytopenia

Background: Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is autoimmune disease characterized by the breakdown of immune tolerance. Impairment of the cellular immunity is primarily evaluated by the levels of the cytokines which can help in predicting the course of ITP. We aim to assess interferon-γ in children with Immune thrombocytopenia and its contribution to diagnosis and prognosis of the disease. Patients and methods: This case control study was carried on 50 children with ITP who were recruited from Pediatric Hematology Outpatient Clinic of Zagazig University Hospitals and 50 children age and sex matched healthy children as Control group. Serum level of Interferon γ (IFN-γ) was performed for all patients and controls using Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay catalog number EH0895 (Wuhan Fine Biotec Co., Ltd). Results: the current study showed that patients group had higher statistical significant difference regarding levels of serum INF-γ than in controls group. Patients group with newly diagnosed ITP had had higher statistical significant difference regarding platelets count compared to persistent patients and chronic patients with ITP. Newly diagnosed patients with ITP had higher statistical significant difference regarding levels of serum INF-γ compared to persistent patients and chronic patients with ITP. Conclusion: Significant differences in serum IFN-γ levels between pediatric patients and healthy controls indicate that IFN-γ levels disturbances might be involved in the pathogenesis of newly diagnosed ITP. TNF-α is the most informative variable for discrimination between healthy children and those with ITP.