Biological stratification of clinical disease courses in childhood immune thrombocytopenia

Abstract

Background: In childhood immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), an autoimmune bleeding disorder, there is a need for better prediction of individual disease courses and treatment outcomes.

Objective: To predict the response to intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIg) and ITP disease course using genetic and immune markers.

Methods: Children aged younger than 7 years with newly diagnosed ITP (N = 147) from the Treatment With or Without IVIG for Kids with ITP study were included, which randomized children to an IVIg or observation group. A total of 46 variables were available: clinical characteristics, targeted genotyping, lymphocyte immune phenotyping, and platelet autoantibodies.

Results: In the treatment arm, 48/80 children (60%) showed a complete response (platelets ≥100 × 10⁹ /L) that lasted for at least 1 month (complete sustained response [CSR]) and 32 exhibited no or a temporary response (absence of a sustained response [ASR]). For a biological risk score, five variables were selected by regularized logistic regression that predicted ASR vs CSR: (1) hemoglobin; (2) platelet count; (3) genetic polymorphisms of Fc-receptor (FcγR) IIc; (4) the presence of immunoglobulin G (IgG) anti-platelet antibodies; and (5) preceding vaccination. The ASR sensitivity was 0.91 (95% confidence interval, 0.80-1.00) and specificity was 0.67 (95% confidence interval, 0.53-0.80). In the 67 patients of the observation arm, this biological score was also associated with recovery during 1 year of follow-up. The addition of the biological score to a predefined clinical score further improved the discrimination of favorable ITP disease courses.

Conclusions: The prediction of disease courses and IVIg treatment responses in ITP is improved by using both clinical and biological stratification.

Keywords: immune thrombocytopenia; intravenous immunoglobulins; molecular epidemiology; pediatrics; prognosis.