A study of CD62P (P-selectin) in b-thalassemia

Background: β-Thalassemia major (β-TM) affects 60 000 births/year worldwide. These patients have to cope with complications of the disease that develop over time. In particular, marked hemostatic changes have been observed in patients with β-TM and β-thalassemia intermedia (β-TI).Aim of the study: This study aimed to determine the percentage of CD62P (P-selectin) among β-thalassemic patients and to correlate it with the presence and the presence of hemostatic abnormalities.Patients and methods: Our study included two groups. Group Igr; included 45 patients with β-thalassemia, which was further subdivided into two subgroups: group Ia included 10 patients with TI and group Ib included 35 patients with TM. Group II included 15 apparently normal children as a control group, age and sex matched to the diseased group. Laboratory investigations were carried out including the following: complete blood count, serum ferritin, bleeding time, clotting time, prothrombin time and concentration, and finally CD62P (P-selectin).Results: The percentage of CD62P in thalassemic patients was significantly higher than that of the normal controls (P 0.001); in addition, it was higher in patients with TI than TM and in splenectomized patients than nonsplenectomized patients.Conclusion: The expression of P-selectin, which is a clinical marker of platelet activation, was more prevalent in thalassemic children than the control children, especially those with β-TI, and in splenectomized patients even in the absence of thromboembolic manifestations.