Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is an autoimmune bleeding disorder with a complex pathogenesis, which includes both antibody- and T-cell-mediated effector mechanisms. Rituximab (an anti-human CD20 monoclonal antibody [mAb]) is one of the treatments for ITP and is known to deplete B cells but may also work by affecting the T-cell compartments. Here, we investigated the outcome of B-cell depletion (Bd

RATIONALE: Improved ventilation strategies have been the mainstay for reducing mortality in acute respiratory distress syndrome. Their unique clinical effectiveness is, however, unmatched by our understanding of the underlying mechanobiology, and their impact on alveolar dynamics and gas exchange remains largely speculative.OBJECTIVES: To assess changes in alveolar dynamics and associated effects

Transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI) is a syndrome of respiratory distress triggered by blood transfusions and is the leading cause of transfusion-related mortality. TRALI has primarily been attributed to passive infusion of HLA and/or human neutrophil antigen antibodies present in transfused blood products, and predisposing factors such as inflammation are known to be important for TRALI

On March 25 and 26, 2015, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute sponsored a meeting on the State of the Science in Transfusion Medicine on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) campus in Bethesda, Maryland, which was attended by a diverse group of 330 registrants. The meeting's goal was to identify important research questions that could be answered in the next 5 to 10 years and which wo

Platelets are small cellular fragments with the primary physiological role of maintaining hemostasis. In addition to this well-described classical function, it is becoming increasingly clear that platelets have an intimate connection with infection and inflammation. This stems from several platelet characteristics, including their ability to bind infectious agents and secrete many immunomodulatory

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is a highly potent inflammatory trigger and is reportedly found outside the cells in blood in various pathologies. Platelets are abundant in blood where they promote hemostasis. Although lacking a nucleus, platelets contain functional mitochondria. On activation, platelets produce extracellular vesicles known as microparticles. We hypothesized that activated platelets cou

INTRODUCTION: Similarities in size, anatomy and physiology have supported the use of sheep to model a wide range of human diseases, including coagulopathy. However, coagulation studies involving sheep are limited by the absence of high quality data defining normal ovine coagulation and fibrinolysis.MATERIALS AND METHODS: Full blood examination, routine and specialised coagulation tests, rotational

In the present paper combustion of micron-sized aluminum dust cloud has been studied in a quiescent reaction medium with spatially discrete sources. A new thermal model is generated to estimate the flame front speed in a lean reaction environment in different oxidizer concentrations. Different burning time models for aluminum are utilized in the generated thermal model to compare their applicabili

Transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI) is the leading cause of transfusion-related mortality and can occur with any type of transfusion. TRALI is thought to be primarily mediated by donor antibodies activating recipient neutrophils resulting in pulmonary endothelial damage. Nonetheless, details regarding the interactions between donor antibodies and recipient factors are unknown. A murine a

Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is an autoimmune disorder characterized by antibody-mediated platelet destruction. The platelet, as an accessible target, has made ITP an attractive disorder in the study of autoimmunity. However, the pathogenesis of ITP has proven complex with diverse pre-existing challenges to the immune system in the form of infection, genetic predisposition, underlying autoimmune

Platelet transfusions are life-saving treatments for many patients with thrombocytopenia; however, their use is generally discouraged in the autoimmune disorder known as immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). We examined whether allogeneic platelet major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I transfusions affected antiplatelet CD61-induced ITP. BALB/c CD61 knockout mice (CD61(-)/H-2(d)) were immunized a

Over the past decades, a wealth of information has been reported about the pathogenic features of immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). To this day, however, it is unclear whether the immune abnormalities associated with ITP play causative roles in the disease or are secondary epiphenomena brought on by the inflammatory processes that are associated with the disorder. Like the majority of all autoimmune

In this issue of Blood, Laffont et al have identified a type of delivery system by platelets in the form of platelet microparticles delivering functional microRNA to endothelial cells. The delivery, it appears, may be a relatively novel process of regulation of gene expression in endothelial cells and potentially other nucleated cells of the body.

Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is an autoimmune disorder characterized by both accelerated clearance of autoantibody-sensitized platelets and suboptimal platelet production. A number of studies have provided evidence of disturbed innate and adaptive immune responses in patients with ITP. This brief review will highlight some of the more recent work in this field and highlight other findings that pr