Gene expression profiling of granulocytes from primary and secondary myelofibrosis

Primary myelofibrosis (PMF) together with polycythemia vera (PV) and essential thrombocythemia (ET) belongs to the classic Philadelphia-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs). PV and ET can evolve to secondary myelofibrosis (SMF) giving rise to post-PV (PPV) and post-ET (PET) myelofibrosis (MF). PMF and SMF patients are currently managed in the same way and prediction of survival is based on the same prognostic models, even if it has been demonstrated that they can’t accurately distinguish different risk categories in SMF. In the last few years interest grew concerning the ability of gene expression profiling (GEP) to provide valuable prognostic information for clinical decision making. To construct a molecular signature that can predict survival according to gene expression we studied GEP of granulocytes from 114 MF patients, including 35 prefibrotic/early PMF (Pre-PMF), 37 overt PMF (Overt-PMF), 26 PET and 16 PPV, using microarray platform. Granulocytes were isolated from 114 MF patients (35 prefibrotic/early PMF, 37 overt PMF, 26 PET and 16 PPV) and total cellular RNA was extracted. GEP was performed using Affymetrix platform and data were processed by means of Partek Genomics Suite Software.