1993 Volume 39 Issue 2 Pages 225-234
Thrombocytopenia associated with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) may be due either to the production of platelet binding autoantibodies or to thrombosis, both frequently observed in SLE. The thrombosis in SLE is generally associated with the appearance of and phospholipid antibodies, especially to cardiolipin (CL). SLE-prone (NZW×BXSB) F1 and (NZB×BZSB) F1 mice showed severe thrombocytopenia in association with the appearance of both platelet binding and anti CL autoantibodies. We studied the relationship between thrombocytopenia and the production of platelet binding antibodies and anti-CL antibodies in these mice. We found that (1) (NZB×BXSB) F1 mice developed more severe thrombocytopenia associated with a higher of platelet-binding antibodies than did (NZW× BXSB) F1 mice, however, there was no difference in the titer of and-CL antibodies between two F1 mice. (2) Thrombocytopenia correlated well with the titer of platelet binding, but not anti CL, antibodies in [NZW× (NZW×BXSB) F1] backcross mice. (3) Normal BALB/c mice injected with hybridoma cells producing monoclonal anti platelet, but not anti-CL, antibodies showed thrombocytopenia. These findings suggest that thrombocytopenia observed in these mice was mainly due to the production of anti-platelet autoantibodies.
