Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0032463 (polycythemia vera)
 3,374 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The pathogenesis of polycythemia vera (PV), a disease involving a multipotent hematopoietic progenitor cell, is unknown. Thrombopoietin (TPO) is a newly characterized hematopoietic growth factor which regulates the production of multipotent hematopoietic progenitor cells as well as platelets. To evaluate the possibility that an abnormality in TPO-mediated signal transduction might be involved in the pathogenesis of PV, we examined TPO-induced protein tyrosine phosphorylation using platelets as a surrogate model system. Platelets were isolated from the blood of patients with PV as well as from patients with other chronic myeloproliferative disorders and control subjects. Impaired TPO-mediated platelet protein tyrosine phosphorylation was a consistent observation in patients with PV as well as those with idiopathic myelofibrosis (IMF), in contrast to patients with essential thrombocytosis, chronic myelogenous leukemia, secondary erythrocytosis, iron deficiency anemia, hemochromatosis, or normal volunteers. Thrombin-mediated platelet protein tyrosine phosphorylation was intact in PV platelets as was expression of the appropriate tyrosine kinases and their cognate substrates. However, expression of the platelet TPO receptor, Mpl, as determined by immunoblotting, chemical crosslinking or flow cytometry was markedly reduced or absent in 34 of 34 PV patients and also in 13 of 14 IMF patients. Impaired TPO-induced protein tyrosine phosphorylation in PV and IMF platelets was uniformly associated with markedly reduced or absent expression of Mpl. We conclude that reduced expression of Mpl is a phenotypic characteristic of platelets from patients with PV and IMF. The abnormality appears to distinguish PV from other forms of erythrocytosis and may be involved in the platelet function defect associated with PV.
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PMID:A novel thrombopoietin signaling defect in polycythemia vera platelets. 1101 90

In 1951, William Dameshek speculated on the common origin of the chronic myeloproliferative disorders--polycythemia vera (PV), essential thrombocythemia (ET), chronic idiopathic myelofibrosis (IMF), and chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). Subsequent work suggested that all arose from the hematopoietic stem cell. About 20 years ago the oncogene responsible for CML, bcr-abl, was identified, and more recently the mutant genes that cause hypereosinophilic syndrome and systemic mast cell disorder have been discovered. However, until very recently, the origin of PV, ET, and IMF have defied molecular explanation. In 2005, four separate groups working on tyrosine kinase signal transduction reported a gain-of-function, valine-to-phenyalanine, mutation at position 617 in the JH2 domain of the Janus kinase (JAK) 2 cytoplasmic tyrosine kinase. This mutation requires the presence of the erythropoietin, thrombopoietin, or granulocyte-colony stimulating factor receptor/s for function, the mutation leads to functional hyperactivity and appears responsible for hematopoietic growth factor hypersensitivity, the most characteristic finding in these disorders. Virtually all patients with PV and substantial proportions of those with ET and IMF have now been shown to harbor this mutation. The mutant kinase appears to be a useful diagnostic test for myeloproliferative disorders and may have prognostic value. Future research will undoubtedly focus on the development of specific inhibitors as therapeutic agents as well as answering a number of questions that remain regarding the role of signal intensity, genotypic and phenotypic expression and the possible involvement of additional as yet unidentified mutations in these disorders.
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PMID:The chronic myeloproliferative disorders and mutation of JAK2: Dameshek's 54 year old speculation comes of age. 1733 49

Chronic myeloproliferative disorders are clonal hematopoietic stem cell disorders characterized by proliferation of one or more myeloid cell lineages in the bone marrow. The WHO classification describes six major groups of chronic myeloproliferative disorders, as follows: chronic myeloid leukemia, chronic neutrophilic leukemia, chronic eosinophilic leukemia, polycythemia vera, essential thrombocythemia and chronic idiopathic myelofibrosis. The diagnosis of chronic myeloid leukemia and certain types of chronic eosinophilic leukemia are based on the detection of fusion genes (in chronic myeloid leukemia the BCR/ABL fusion gene, and in chronic eosinophilic leukemia the FIP1L1-PDGFRalpha gene). On the other hand molecular markers for polycythemia vera, essential thrombocythemia and chronic idiopathic myelofibrosis were lacking, making it difficult to identify these disorders clearly. The authors investigated the incidence of the newly identified somatic point mutation V617F of the Janus-2 tyrosine kinase in patients with polycythemia vera, essential thrombocythemia and myelofibrosis. Janus-2 kinase is a cytoplasmic, non-receptor protein-tyrosine kinase with a key role in signal transduction from multiple hematopoietic growth factor receptors. The mutant protein is constitutively phosphorylated and is able to activate its downstream signaling pathways in the absence of any cytokine, thereby contributing to the pathogenesis of chronic myeloproliferative disorders. The authors investigated DNA samples from 132 patients with chronic myeloproliferative disorders. The V617F mutation was detected by allele-specific polymerase chain reaction, and the patients were genotyped by a DNA tetra-primer amplification refractory mutation system assay. Approximately 73% of polycythemia vera, 60% of essential thrombocythemia and 67% of myelofibrosis showed the JAK2 V617F mutation. Using the amplification refractory mutation system assay, the frequency of homozygotes was 17.5% in polycythemia vera, 5.4% in essential thrombocythemia and 0% in myelofibrosis. The authors established an effective polymerase chain reaction based method for the identification of JAK2 mutation in the routine oncohematologic diagnostics.
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PMID:[Novel method in diagnosis of chronic myeloproliferative disorders--detection of JAK2 mutation]. 1740 11