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)

We studied the suitability of collagen-based semisolid medium for assay of endogenous erythroid colony formation performed in myeloproliferative disorders. Bone marrow (BM) mononuclear cells (MNC) from 103 patients suspected of having polycythemia vera (PV, 76 patients) or essential thrombocythemia (ET, 27 patients) were grown in collagen-based, serum-free, cytokine-free semisolid medium. Colony analysis at day 8 or 10 showed that this collagen assay is specific, as endogenous growth of erythroid colonies was never observed in cultures of 16 healthy donors and 6 chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) patients. Endogenous erythroid colony formation was observed in 53.3% of patients suspected of PV, with only 15.4% of positive cultures for patients with 1 minor PV criterion and 72% (p = 0.009) of positive cultures for patients with > or =2 minor or 1 major PV criterion. Similarly, endogenous growth of erythroid colonies was found in 44.4% of patients suspected of ET, with 31.6% of positive cultures for patients with 1 ET criterion versus 75% for patients with > or =2 ET criteria. In addition, we found that in collagen gels, tests of erythropoietin (EPO) hypersensitivity in the presence of 0.01 or 0.05 U/ml of EPO and tests of endogenous colony-forming units-megakaryocyte (CFU-MK) formation cannot be used to detect PV or ET, as these tests were positive for, respectively, 21.4% and 50% of healthy donors and 83% and 50% of CML patients. A retrospective analysis suggests that collagen assays are more sensitive than methylcellulose assays to assess endogenous growth of erythroid colonies. In summary, serum-free collagen-based colony assays are simple and reliable assays of endogenous growth of erythroid colonies in myeloproliferative diseases. They also appear to be more sensitive than methylcellulose-based assays.
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PMID:Endogenous erythroid and megakaryocytic colony formation in serum-free, cytokine-free collagen gels. 1064 67

Polycythaemia vera (PV) is a myeloproliferative disorder (MPD) characterized by an increased production of mature blood cells. The underlying pathogenic mechanisms behind PV are largely unknown. Thrombopoietin (TPO) is the most important cytokine for stimulation of megakaryocyte growth and formation of functional platelets. Recently, it has been shown that the receptor for TPO, c-mpl, is expressed on haematopoietic stem cells, and that TPO promotes the growth of these stem cells via binding to c-mpl. Quantitative or qualitative abnormalities of c-mpl function could thus theoretically play a role in the pathogenesis of different MPDs. Previous studies of the integrity of the c-mpl system in PV have produced conflicting results. We therefore studied c-mpl protein expression using immunoblot analysis in 15 PV patients and 10 healthy controls. Seven out of 15 PV patients (47%) exhibited similar c-mpl protein levels to the controls, whereas eight out of 15 patients (53%) showed either markedly reduced or absent levels of c-mpl. Five of the seven c-mpl-positive patients had only been treated by phlebotomy, whereas six out of eight c-mpl-negative patients were receiving treatment with hydroxyurea, anagrelide or alpha-interferon. Disease duration tended to be slightly longer in c-mpl-negative patients compared with c-mpl-positive patients (mean = 55 vs. 43 months). Tyrosine phosphorylation of JAK-2 in immunoprecipitates of platelets obtained after stimulation with TPO (100 and 1000 ng/ml) was normal in c-mpl-positive patients, whereas it could not be detected in c-mpl-negative patients. We therefore conclude that there exists a marked heterogeneity in c-mpl protein levels and functional integrity in PV. However, it seems less likely that c-mpl abnormalities per se are directly involved in the pathogenesis leading to the occurrence of PV, as c-mpl levels were similar to those seen in healthy individuals in about half of the patients under study.
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PMID:Marked heterogeneity in protein levels and functional integrity of the thrombopoietin receptor c-mpl in polycythaemia vera. 1065 27

Differentiation of an elevated, repeatedly determined platelet count (> or =500x10(9)/l) includes the discrimination between reactive causes generated by a variety of underlying conditions and a neoplastic myeloproliferative disorder (CMPD). In addition to clinical findings, the evolution of laboratory data during follow-up and histology of the bone marrow exerts a significant diagnostic impact. Characteristic features are not only expressed by hematopoiesis, but also by the myeloid stromal compartment. While the megakaryocyte-rich subtype of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and the 5q(-) syndrome (MDS) are dominated by abnormal micromegakaryocytes, in polycythemia vera (PV) this cell lineage reveals a pleomorphous appearance. In essential thrombocythemia (ET), a prevalence of giant megakaryocytes with deeply lobulated (staghorn-like) nuclei may be encountered. A clear-cut discrimination of ET from early (hypercellular) stages of idiopathic (primary) myelofibrosis (IMF) presenting with thrombocythemia becomes possible, provided the conspicuous atypical features of megakaryopoiesis characterizing the latter entity are taken into account. Moreover, CML displays a predominance of the granulocytic lineage whereas PV shows a panmyelosis or trilineage proliferation, involving erythropoiesis, in particular. In contrast, erythropoiesis is markedly reduced in CML and to a lesser degree also in IMF. In CMPDs extreme values of iron deposits may be found, ranging from a total lack (PV) to minor amounts (CML) and a normal staining reaction (ET). Similar results are exhibited regarding reticulin fibrosis, which is usually not present in ET, rarely observed in PV and detectable to a variable degree in CML and IMF.
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PMID:[Thrombocytosis versus thrombocythemia--differential diagnosis of elevated platelet count]. 1066 67

Megakaryocytes are platelet forming cells and are characterized by polyploidization, a phenomenon by which nuclear division occurs without corresponding cytoplasmic separation. Among the markers allowing to identify megakaryocytes, glycoprotein (GP) IIIa with GPIb and GPIIb are the most important. Using GPIIIa as a marker to recognize megakaryocytes in the bone marrow, we have estimated GPIIIa expression by flow cytometry in megakaryocyte populations from normal individuals and from patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia, immune thrombocytopenic purpura or polycythemia vera. We showed that the expression of GPIIIa is decreasing during megakaryocyte polyploidization in normal and pathological situations.
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PMID:Human megakaryocyte polyploidization is associated with a decrease in GPIIIA expression. 1069 32

Recent studies have shown decreased megakaryocyte expression of the thrombopoietin receptor (c-mpl) in patients with polycythemia vera (PV) but not in those with reactive erythrocytosis. We examined the diagnostic utility of this observation in 22 patients with PV, 7 patients with secondary erythrocytosis (SE), and 10 normal controls. Commercial antibodies against c-mpl were used with standard immunoperoxidase methods. Megakaryocyte c-mpl staining intensity was uniformly moderate-to-strong in the healthy controls and in all the patients with SE. In contrast, staining intensity in 9 patients with PV (41%) was uniformly weak. Furthermore, in 12 of the remaining 13 patients with PV, the c-mpl staining pattern in each case was heterogeneous and was associated with weak staining intensity in more than 20% of the megakaryocyte population. These preliminary data suggest that c-mpl immunostains may complement bone marrow histopathology in distinguishing PV from nonclonal causes of erythrocytosis. (Blood. 2000;96:771-772)
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PMID:Immunohistochemical staining for megakaryocyte c-mpl may complement morphologic distinction between polycythemia vera and secondary erythrocytosis. 1136 62

Polycythemia vera (PV) is a rare, progressive myeloproliferative disorder thought to originate from the clonal expansion of a multipotent haemopoietic stem cell. This disease is characterised by hyperproliferation of the erythroid, myeloid and megakaryocyte lineages in the early phase, anaemia and fibrosis in the spent phase, and with a significant number of patients developing acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) in the final phase. Studies investigating the growth factor requirements of committed progenitors have shown hypersensitivity to a number of haemopoietic growth factors (HGF) in vitro and several HGF receptor and signalling molecule alterations have been reported. The findings to date, however, are unable to account for the transformation of a primitive stem cell and the many alterations to growth factor responses seen in PV progenitors. Identification of the primary lesion that leads to the pathogenesis of PV is of major importance given the profound effects on regulation of the haemopoietic stem cell compartment. In this article we focus on characteristics of the disease, research findings to date and possible mechanisms to explain altered growth factor responses, receptor alterations and signalling abnormalities in PV.
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PMID:Molecular aspects of polycythemia vera (review). 1093 84

Two prospectively studied patients with polycythemia vera (PV) whose platelet counts showed marked periodic fluctuation during treatment with hydroxyurea (HU) are reported. Cycle lengths in both were approximately 28 to 30 days. In one patient, the cyclic process was no longer evident when treatment with HU was withheld, and it reappeared on treatment rechallenge. Circulating thrombopoietin (TPO) levels fluctuated out of phase with the platelet count despite markedly reduced TPO-receptor (c-Mpl) expression in bone marrow megakaryocytes. These observations suggest that the cyclic phenomenon may be related to both a transient state of HU-induced depletion of megakaryocytes and a concentration-dependent mitigation by TPO of the HU effect on megakaryocytes and their precursors. It is conceivable that the affected patients harbor a megakaryocyte progenitor pool whose apoptotic activity is differently modulated by either HU or high concentrations of TPO. (Blood. 2000;96:1582-1584)
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PMID:Hydroxyurea-induced marked oscillations of platelet counts in patients with polycythemia vera. 1094 9

The objectives of this study were to expand on recent observations that have suggested decreased thrombopoietin receptor (c-Mpl) expression in megakaryocytes of patients with polycythemia vera (PV) and agnogenic myeloid metaplasia (AMM). We applied an immunoperoxidase method with anti-c-Mpl antibody to 55 bone marrow sections from previously untreated patients with chronic myeloproliferative disorder (CMPD) or myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). These included 8 patients with PV, 15 with AMM, 9 with essential thrombocythemia, 5 with chronic myelocytic leukemia, 9 with the 5q-syndrome and 9 with MDS with fibrosis. The findings were compared with those in four patients with reactive erythrocytosis (RE), six with immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) and five normal controls. Staining intensity (SI) was moderate to strong both in normal controls and in patients with RE or ITP. In contrast, SI was weak in variable proportions of the megakaryocytes in every one of the aforementioned clonal myeloid disorders. The staining pattern (SP) was relatively uniform in MDS and heterogeneous in CMPD. Neither SI nor SP was significantly correlated with certain clinical or laboratory parameters. We concluded that altered megakaryocyte c-Mpl expression may be a nonspecific phenomenon in various subtypes of both CMPD and MDS. However, the characteristic staining patterns may complement the morphological distinction between clonal and reactive myeloproliferation.
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PMID:Megakaryocyte c-Mpl expression in chronic myeloproliferative disorders and the myelodysplastic syndrome: immunoperoxidase staining patterns and clinical correlates. 1100 52

Recent observations have underscored the biologic relevance of intratumoral angiogenesis and its potential impact on prognosis. Increased bone marrow angiogenesis has been demonstrated in a variety of hematologic disorders, including multiple myeloma. The extent and prognostic significance of bone marrow angiogenesis in 114 patients with myelofibrosis with myeloid metaplasia (MMM) was investigated. A control group of 44 patients without bone marrow disease, 15 patients with polycythemia vera, and 17 patients with essential thrombocythemia was also studied. Bone marrow microvessel density was assessed by a semiquantitative method, visual microvessel grading, and 2 separate quantitative methods, visual count and computerized image analysis. Angiogenesis estimation by all 3 methods was highly comparable. On visual microvessel grading, a grade 3 or 4 increase in bone marrow angiogenesis was demonstrated in 70% of patients with MMM, 33% of patients with polycythemia vera, 12% of patients with essential thrombocythemia, and 0% of normal controls. In a multivariate analysis, increased angiogenesis in MMM correlated significantly with increased spleen size and was found to be a significant and independent risk factor for overall survival. Increases in marrow angiogenesis correlated with hypercellularity and megakaryocyte clumping. In contrast, these 2 features were inversely proportional to reticulin fibrosis, whereas increases in marrow angiogenesis were independent of reticulin fibrosis. These preliminary findings suggest that neo-angiogenesis is an integral component of the bone marrow stromal reaction in MMM and may provide useful prognostic information and a rationale for the therapeutic investigation of anti-angiogenic agents.
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PMID:Evaluation and clinical correlations of bone marrow angiogenesis in myelofibrosis with myeloid metaplasia. 1107 30

Diagnosis of essential thrombocythemia (ET) is controversial and remains mainly an exclusion diagnosis. Endogenous megakaryocyte colony (EMC) formation have been largely evaluated to identify specific criteria for ET, but results are impeded by the lack of medium standardization. We evaluated megakaryocyte (MK) colony formation in a serum-free collagen-based medium, without cytokine and in the presence of various concentrations of thrombopoietin (TPO). Thirty-six bone marrows from patients diagnosed with ET (n = 11), polycythemia vera (PV; n = 12), reactive thrombocytosis (RT; n = 6) and healthy donors (n = 7) were assessed. We demonstrate that 11 out 11 of the ET patients had spontaneous megakaryocyte colony-forming unit (CFU-MK) formation, in contrast to none of the RT patients and healthy donors. MK progenitors from ET patients remained responsive to TPO, because exogenous addition of TPO significantly increased cloning efficiency. Moreover, at low doses of TPO (0.5 ng/ml and 5 ng/ml), the number of positive cultures and mean number of TPO stimulated CFU-MK were significantly higher in cultures of cells from patients with ET than in patients with RT. In summary, we have described a standardized serum-free, collagen-based assay that allows differential diagnosis of ET and RT, according to endogenous CFU-MK formation and sensitivity to TPO.
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PMID:Endogenous megakaryocytic colony formation and thrombopoietin sensitivity of megakaryocytic progenitor cells are useful to distinguish between essential thrombocythemia and reactive thrombocytosis. 1145 15


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