Roll of antibodies antiplatelets in viral infection: a systematic review of literature

Thrombocytopenia is a frequent phenomenon in viral infections. Peripheral platelet destruction mediated by anti-platelet antibodies has been one of the proposed causal mechanisms. Results were collected and analyzed from published studies on associations of human viral infections on anti-platelet antibodies and total platelet counts. A PubMed search was conducted using the following terms: Viral infection (OR Virus diseases) AND antiplatelet antibody (OR thrombocytopenia) AND HIV (OR measles OR dengue OR chickenpox OR varicella OR Epistein Barr OR mumps OR rubella). Two hundred eighteen reference hits were obtained, 65 of which were relevant to this review. Antiplatelet antibody-mediated thrombocytopenia has been documented in cases of HIV, measles, dengue, chickenpox, Epstein-Barr, mumps and rubella. Moreover, the presence of these antibodies has been associated with severity the disease and thrombocytopenia in viral infections. Although the presence of antiplatelet antibodies was not the only mechanism for explaining the thrombocytopenia developed in these viral infections, their presence was associated with severity of thrombocytopenia and with the clinical presentation of these patients.