evaluation of humoral immune function in patients with chronic idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura.

coincidence of autoimmune diseases such as immune thrombocytopenic purpura (itp) with  immunodeficiencies has  been  reported  previously in  patients  who  suffered  from primary antibody deficiency (pad). but there is no original study on immunological profiles of itp patients to find out their probable immune deficiency. in this case-control study, itp patients’ humoral immunity was investigated for diagnosis of pad in comparison with normal population. to evaluate the humoral immune system against polysaccharide antigens, patients’ serum immunoglobulin levels were measured and a 23-valent pneumococcal  capsular polysaccharide vaccine (ppv23) was administrated  to evaluate the antibody response to vaccination. in  this  study, 14 out  of  36 patients  (39%) were diagnosed with antibody mediated immune deficiency including 2 patients (5.5%) with immunoglobulin class deficiency and 4 (11%) with igg subclass deficiency. the remaining patients suffered from specific antibody deficiency. the most frequent deficiency in itp patients was specific antibody deficiency. therefore, immunological survey on itp patients may be important especially for those who have undergone splenectomy.