Spontaneous megakaryocytic colony formation does not discriminate between essential thrombocythemia and polycythemia vera.
Laboratory detection of spontaneous growth of colony-forming unit-megacaryocytes (CFU-MK), allowing us to distinguish essential thrombocythemia (ET) from reactive thrombocytosis, is therefore useful for the diagnostic of this myeloproliferative disorder. Whether CFU-MK assays allow us to discriminate at least partly between ET and other myeloproliferative disorders such as polycythemia vera (PV) remains, however, to be established. To gain insights about this point, we have performed CFU-MK cultures from bone marrow cells of patients diagnosed with ET (n = 42) or PV (n = 50) using a standardized collagen-based serum-free method. Spontaneous growth of CFU-MK was similarly detected in both 40/42 patients with ET and 47/50 patients with PV. These data suggest clearly that the CFU-MK assay is useful to detect not only ET, but also PV, but fails to discriminate, even partly, between these two myeloproliferative disorders.
Escoffre-Barbe
Martine
M
Service d'Hématologie Clinique, Centre Hospitalier et Universitaire, rue Henri Le Guilloux, 35033 Rennes, France.
Amiot
Laurence
L
Beaucournu
Pascale
P
Jego
Patrick
P
Grulois
Isabelle
I
Grosbois
Bernard
B
Bernard
Marc
M
Fest
Thierry
T
Lamy
Thierry
T
Fardel
Olivier
O
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003114:Colony-Forming Units Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008533:Megakaryocytes; D008875:Middle Aged; D011087:Polycythemia Vera / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D013920:Thrombocythemia, Essential / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology