Improving Diagnosis and Treatment of a Severe Bleeding Disorder

Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is a severe bleeding disorder of dogs in which the immune system destroys normal blood platelets, the small blood cells that control bleeding. Dogs with ITP currently receive potent immunosuppressive drug therapy which results in many unwanted side effects. Treatment with a bone marrow stimulant called thrombopoietin (TPO), which stimulates platelet production, is an effective therapy in people with ITP as their TPO levels decrease. Researchers will develop an assay to measure canine TPO to find out whether TPO-replacing drugs also could be an effective and safer treatment for dogs with ITP.