Thrombocytopenic Purpura Support Group

As far as I know ITP is not directly genetic. Thus the "I" in ITP. The "I" stands for idiopathic meaning its origin and cause is unknown. That being said, it being indirectly heredital is unknown. go to www.pdsa.org for more info.

I have a daughter who has been in remission with ITP since 1995. She was diagnosed with ITP in October 1990 at age 22 1/2 months. For the next almost 5 years we practically lived at Children's Hospital. I had her prayed over in church and annointed with oil and she immediately went into remission and has been symptom free ever since.
In 1997 we were sent a letter from her doc from the Hematology/Oncology unit at Children's Hospital (Columbus, Ohio) asking if our daughter would donate blood for a research project. She still had her port in and so we consented (our daughter also was consenting). Our daughter was almost 9 years old at the time asked for a blood sample. Almost a year later we recieved a letter in the mail telling us about the findings from this research (paid for with a $25,000 grant from the US government). Every child who donated blood for the ITP project had a mutation on the 6th Y chromosone. EVERY CHILD~and there were over 100 kids who donated blood for this ITP research. Our doctor concluded that ITP is indeed genetic and that something happens that triggers the gene to become active. So yes, ITP is genetic! We know this for a fact and have paperwork alleging this is true.

Blessings~

Lori

These comments are so interesting, and I'm grateful I came across them.
My older daughter had ITP 14 years ago at age 21 when pregnant; she had zero platelets when diagnosed, and had a transfusion. She has been in remission since then.
My younger daughter, 29, was just diagnosed recently with ITP, and is currently on prednisone (being weaned off).
I can't believe it's not genetic---though I don't know of anyone else on either side of our family who have had ITP. I do have one family member with two other auto-immune disorders, though: Crohn's and psoriasis. Possibly related somehow? I'll keep reading!

But never confuse absence of evidence with evidence of absence. While it's true that there is a no conclusive evidence to support a genetic basis of ITP, there is considerable statistical evidence to support the idea. See http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed... Of course the fact that a close friend, her father, and her sister's daughter have all been diagnosed with ITP or shown characteristic symptoms may have something to do with my opinion, too.