To recapitulate the ITP scenario in vivo, we induced thrombocytopenia in mice via i.v. injection of 2 mg kg−1 of anti-GPIbα mAb or control IgG (Sreeramkumar et al, 2014; Xiang et al, 2013) (Fig. 4A). Here, GP1BA is linked to autoimmune thrombocytopenic purpura.