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Increased risk for vascular complications in PRV‐1 positive patients with essential thrombocythaemia
Author(s) -
Johansson Peter,
Ricksten Anne,
Wennström Lovisa,
Palmqvist Lars,
Kutti Jack,
Andréasson Björn
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
british journal of haematology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.907
H-Index - 186
eISSN - 1365-2141
pISSN - 0007-1048
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2141.2003.04634.x
Subject(s) - polycythaemia , medicine , platelet , gastroenterology
Summary. Essential thrombocythaemia (ET) is a heterogeneous disorder with respect to plasma erythropoietin concentration at diagnosis and clonality of haematopoiesis. Polycythaemia rubra vera‐1 (PRV‐1) positivity, i.e. PRV‐1 mRNA overexpression, is known to be present in the vast majority of patients with polycythaemia vera and also in some patients with ET. In the present study, PRV‐1 expression was quantified by real‐time polymerase chain reaction in 70 ET patients; 17 of them (24%) were found to be PRV‐1 positive. Ten of the 17 PRV‐1 positive ET patients had experienced thromboembolic complications compared with 14 of 53 PRV‐1 negative patients, the difference between the two groups being statistically significant ( P = 0·02). In addition, the frequency of total vascular complications, thromboembolic events and major bleedings, was significantly higher in the group of PRV‐1 positive as compared with PRV‐1 negative ET patients ( P = 0·03). The time from diagnosis of ET to the requirement of platelet‐lowering therapy was significantly shorter in PRV‐1 positive compared with PRV‐1 negative ET patients ( P = 0·014). It can be concluded that PRV‐1 positive patients appear to suffer from a more aggressive disorder with increased risk for vascular complications and a greater need for platelet‐lowering therapy, compared with PRV‐1 negative ET patients.