Platelet Proteome in Myeloproliferative Neoplasms

Patients with chronic Myeloproliferative Neoplasms (MPN) including polycythaemia vera (PV) and essential thrombocythemia (ET) exhibit unique clinical features, such as a tendency toward thrombosis and hemorrhage, and risk of disease progression to secondary bone marrow fibrosis and/or acute leukemia. Although an increase in blood cell lineage counts (quantitative features) contribute to these morbid sequelae, the significant qualitative abnormalities of myeloid cells that contribute to vascular risk are not well understood. Here, we address this critical knowledge gap via a comprehensive and untargeted profiling (using label free quantitative mass spectrometry) of the platelet proteome in a large (n= 140) cohort of patients (from two independent sites) with an established diagnosis of PV and ET. We discover distinct MPN platelet protein expression and confirm key molecular impairments associated with proteostasis and thrombosis mechanisms of potential relevance to MPN pathology.