Patients and controls

Thirty-five newly-diagnosed ITP patients (21 female and 14 male; age range 18 to 74 years, median 42 years) were enrolled in the Department of Hematology, Qilu Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, China. Platelet counts ranged from 8 to 41 × 10⁹/L, with a median count of 16 × 10⁹/L. All patients met the diagnostic criteria of ITP⁴⁸. None of the patients had received ITP-specific treatment before sampling. Fifteen healthy controls (9 females and 6 males; age range 19 to 72 years, median age 40 years) were enrolled. The platelet counts ranged from 165 to 287 × 10⁹/L, with a median count of 236 × 10⁹/L. An additional 14 newly-diagnosed ITP patients (9 females and 5 males; age range 21 to 69 years, median 40 years, platelet range, 12 to 38 × 10⁹/L, median 19 × 10⁹/L) and 8 controls (5 females and 3 males; age range 19 to 65 years, median 38 years, platelet range, 176 to 295 × 10⁹/L, median 210 × 10⁹/L) were enrolled for in vitro platelet phagocytosis assay. Enrollment took place between February 2014 and April 2016. Informed consent was gained from each participant. Ethical approval was given by the Medical Ethical Committee of Qilu Hospital, Shandong University. All experiments were carried out in accordance with the approved guidelines.