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Wolfgang Miesbach: Key Message from John Semple on Platelets as Immune Cells in ITP
Wolfgang Miesbach/LinkedIn; John Semple/Loop Frontiers
Apr 15, 2026, 21:24

Wolfgang Miesbach: Key Message from John Semple on Platelets as Immune Cells in ITP

Wolfgang Miesbach, Professor of Medicine at Frankfurt University Hospital, shared a post on LinkedIn:

“‘Platelets are immune cells.’

That was the key message from John Semple’s outstanding talk on ITP at the recent EHA‑SWG Scientific Meeting on Bleeding and Platelet Disorders.

For beyond Haemostasis, platelets:

  • Sense danger via pattern‑recognition receptors and respond to pathogens
  • Release chemokines, cytokines, antimicrobial peptides and extracellular vesicles that shape innate and adaptive immunity
  • Interact with neutrophils, monocytes, dendritic cells and T cells, influencing their recruitment, activation and polarization

In ITP this dual role is crucial: platelets are not only passive targets of autoantibodies and cytotoxic T cells, but active players that modulate inflammation, immune tolerance and infection risk.

What is especially exciting is how this biology is now translating into future treatment options:

  • FcRn antagonists, BTK and SYK inhibitors to reduce pathogenic antibody production and signalling
  • BAFF/APRIL and complement inhibitors to reshape the autoimmune milieu
  • CD38‑targeting antibodies and other approaches that selectively deplete autoreactive immune cells”

Wolfgang Miesbach

Other posts featuring Wolfgang Miesbach on Hemostasis Today.

antimicrobial peptides bleeding disorders Blood chemokines cytokines Dendritic cells EHA‑SWG Scientific Meeting Extracellular Vesicles Health Hematology Hemophilia Hemostasis Hemostasis News Hemostasis Today ITP John Semple Medicine monocytes Neutrophils platelets T Cells
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