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MDS

Colony-forming unit-megakaryocyte (CFU-meg) numbers and serum thrombopoietin concentrations in thrombocytopenic disorders: an inverse correlation in myelodysplastic syndromes

Leukemia volume 14, pages 1751–1756 (2000)Cite this article

Abstract

We studied both serum-free colony-forming unit-megakaryocyte (CFU-meg) numbers and serum thrombopoietin (TPO) levels in 14 patients with aplastic anemia (AA), 37 patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and 23 patients with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) to assess thrombopoiesis in these thrombocytopenic disorders. The mean CFU-meg numbers were lower in AA and MDS patients (10.7 ± 11.4 and 42.3 ± 58.5/105 BMLD cells) than in healthy controls (103.1 ± 57.3/105 BMLD cells) (P < 0.0001 and P = 0.0053, respectively), although they were distributed variably in MDS. ITP patients showed higher CFU-meg numbers (223.2 ± 143.5/105 BMLD cells) (P = 0.017). The mean TPO concentrations were higher in both AA (986.8 ± 500.8 pg/ml) and MDS patients (838.2 ± 639.1 pg/ml) than in healthy controls (80.7 ± 38.8 pg/ml) (P < 0.0001), although they were distributed from high to low in MDS. ITP patients showed a slight elevation of TPO (123.1 ± 55.3 pg/ml) P = 0.0106). The TPO levels was inversely correlated to both platelet counts and CFU-meg numbers (correlative coefficient (CC): −0.719 and −0.682, P < 0.0001) in AA, but not in ITP. In MDS, the inverse correlation to TPO was stronger in CFU-meg (CC: −0.678, P < 0.0001) than in platelet counts (CC: −0.538, P = 0.0014), suggesting that CFU-meg plays an important role in regulating TPO production in this heterogenous disorder. CFU-meg and TPO may provide useful information for understanding thrombopoiesis of MDS, especially for application of TPO.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Mr Shigehiro Nakashima for his technical assistance.

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  1. Department of Hematology and Molecular Medicine Unit, Atomic Bomb Disease Institute, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, Nagasaki, Japan

    W Wang, S Yoshida, H Mori, Y Miyazaki, K Kuriyama & M Tomonaga

  2. Blood Transfusion Service, Nagasaki University Hospital, Nagasaki, Japan

    T Matsuo

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Wang, W., Matsuo, T., Yoshida, S. et al. Colony-forming unit-megakaryocyte (CFU-meg) numbers and serum thrombopoietin concentrations in thrombocytopenic disorders: an inverse correlation in myelodysplastic syndromes. Leukemia 14, 1751–1756 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2401898

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