Inflammatory gene expression associated with advanced myelofibrosis

Myelofibrosis (MF) is a progressive, bone marrow (BM) malignancy associated with monocytosis, and is believed to promote the pathological remodelling of the extracellular matrix. Here, we show that the pathologic grading of MF was associated with inflammatory gene expression in primary patient samples. The pathology archives at Brigham & Women’s Hospital (BWH) and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) was queried to identify patients with myelofibrosis on bone marrow biopsy obtained between 2005 and 2016. Patients diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome/MPN overlap disease and those who had progressed to acute leukemia, received treatment with chemotherapeutic agents for prior cancer diagnoses, or had undergone stem cell transplantation were excluded. Histologic review and fibrosis grading were performed by W.W., R.P.H. and O.P. based on consensus, using the 2016 WHO Revised Classification of Myeloid Neoplasms. The study was conducted in accordance with the principles set forth by the Declaration of Helsinki and the requirement for informed consent was waived by the institutional review board.