Circulating myeloid-derived suppressor cells predict disease activity and treatment response in patients with immune thrombocytopenia

Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is a disease characterized by isolated thrombocytopenia. Abnormal effector T cell activation is an important mechanism in the pathogenesis of ITP. Regulatory T cells (Treg) have a strong immunosuppressive function for T cell activation and their importance in the pathophysiology and clinical treatment of ITP has been confirmed. Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) are other immunosuppressive cells, which can also suppress T cell activation by secreting arginase, iNOS and ROS, and are essential for Treg cells’ differentiation and maturation. Therefore, we speculate that MDSCs might also be involved in the immune-dysregulation mechanism of ITP. In this study, we tested MDSCs and Treg cells in peripheral blood samples of twenty-five ITP patients and ten healthy donors. We found that MDSCs and Treg cells decreased simultaneously in active ITP patients. Relapsed ITP patients showed lower MDSCs levels compared with new patients. All patients received immunosuppressive treatment including dexamethasone alone or in combination with intravenous immune globulin. We found that MDSCs’ level after treatment correlated with platelet recovery. Our study is the first that focused on MDSCs’ role in ITP. Based on our results, we concluded that circulating MDSCs could predict disease activity and treatment response in ITP patients. This preliminary conclusion indicates a substantial significance of MDSCs in the pathophysiology and clinical treatment of ITP, which deserves further investigation.