Background: Anti-neutrophil antibodies are a well-recognized cause of neutropenia, producing a potential increase in risk of infection: in the majority of patients antibodies react against antigens located on the IgG Fc receptor type 3b (FcRIIIb), but other target antigens have been identified.
Data sources: In this review the most important papers of auto and alloimmune neutropenias of infancy and childhood were analyzed. PubMed, Google Scholar and Thompson ISI Web of Knowledge were searched for identifying relevant papers.
Results: Primary autoimmune neutropenia of infancy is mostly a benign condition with self-limited course, whereas isolated alloimmune neonatal neutropenia or secondary autoimmune neutropenia may be occasionally complicated by severe infections.
Conclusion: Granulocyte colony stimulating factor is an effective therapy for patients affected by all types of autoimmune and alloimmune neutropenia, even though most of them do not need any therapy.
Keywords: immune; infancy; neutropenia.