ITP is an autoantibody-mediated disease which would logically be treated by decreasing the level of autoantibody. However, the most exciting developments in understanding the pathophysiology of the thrombocytopenia and its treatment involve a better understanding of the MPS FcR system and ways in which it can be modulated. This work has focussed on phagocytic paralysis or FcR blockade (FcRBl): the slowing of destruction of antibody-coated platelets despite the persistent presence of antibody on the surface of the platelet.Several areas have been explored in learning about the MPS system. Investigation by Kurlander among others have revealed that at least 2 FcR's exist on mononuclear phagocytes: one with high and one with low affinity for monomeric IgG. Study of the high affinity FcR expressed by circulating monocytes, by Schreiber among others, has explored the effect of Danazol to decrease the expression of this FcR. The clinical relevance of this receptor is uncertain however because it is saturated in vitro by physiologic concentrations of IgG. Unkeless defined the properties of the low affinity "immune complex" FcR, expressed on macrophages and neutrophils, via monoclonal antibody 3G8 (see below) which blocks ligand binding to this FcR. The exact roles of these two, and possibly more, FcR's are being explored. Another still unsolved controversy involves whether the interaction Fc portions of antibodies coating particles with FcR's is mediated by a conformational change of the Fc portion or by a multipoint attachment of several Fc parts.Studies by Mollison in the 60's demonstrated that the MPS had a limited capacity for removal of antibody-coated (red) cells. Shulman pursued MPS modulation by exploring the inhibition of thrombocytopenia caused by infusion of ITP plasma into normals. Kelton demonstrated that "compensated" ITP may be caused by a decreased clearance of antibody-coated cells and that the rate of clearance of antibody-coated cells may be correlated with rate of clearance of antibody-coated cells may be correlated with the intrinsic levels of IgG. Stossel investigated FcRBl as a mechanism of effect of corticosteroids and related it clinically. Subsequently intravenous gammaglobulin (IVGG) was introducedas a treatment of ITP and Fehr et al first demonstrated FcRBl as the mechanism of effect of IVGG. Exploration of the mechanism of the FcRBl caused by IVGGled Salama and Mueller-Eckhardt to demonstrate the therapeutic effect of I anti-D, which apparentlycoats RBC with antibody and causes their destruction atthe coats RBC with antibody and causes their destruction at the expense of antibody-coated platelets. A similar degree of FcRBl has been shown for aldometrelated to the development of antibody on RBC.Our studies, including Drs. Clarkson, Kimberly, Nachman, and Unkeless, have focussed on the role of the low affinity or "Immune complex" FcR by using monoclonal antibody 3G8 in vivo. An infusion of 1 mg/kg of 3G8 in chimpanzees caused a reproducible FcRBl demonstrable by a slowing of the destruction of antibody-coated RBC for > 10 days (JEM, 1986). Less effect of 3G8 to inhibit CIC removal was seen using DNA-anti-DNA as the immune complex. In view of the wel1-documented effects of IVGG infusion to create FcRBl, we infused 3G8 into 6 adults with refractory ITP (NEJM, 1986). Specifically these patients were refractory to all forms of conventional therapy including splenectomy, steroids, vinca alkaloid infusion, immunosuppressives and danazol . 3 of the 6 patients had peak platelet responses to >80,000/ul. The other 3 had short-lived platelet increases from 10 to 30,000/ul. These responses confirmed the effect of FcRBl, specifically of the low affinity FcR, to underlie a dramatic platelet increase in therapy of ITP. Surprisingly 3 of the patients had apparent longterm effects of this therapy demonstrable in 2 cases as a maintenance of the platelet count >20,0C0/ul without any further therapy and in 1 case as a clearly enhanced responsiveness to other therapies following 3G8 infusion. Since Natural Killer activity was (transiently) ablated by 3G8 infusion, we speculate that an alternation of regulation of (auto) antibody production by NK cells may be responsible for this effect and that FcR interactions include regulatory roles in addition to their primary function of removal of CIC.
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