Diagnostic Utility of PRV-1 mRNA Quantification in Polycythemia Vera and Essential Thrombocythemia.

In recent reports, granulocyte PRV-1 mRNA has been shown to be over-expressed in the majority of polycythemia vera (PV) patients and with a variable frequency in essential thrombocythemia (ET) patients. Here we evaluate PRV-1 mRNA quantification in the diagnosis of PV and ET. Following patients were included in the study: 23 PV patients; 5 secondary erythrocytosis (SE) cases, 4 by lung disease and 1 by a hemoglobinopathy (Hb San Diego); 4 relative erythrocytosis (RE) cases; and 13 ET patients. PV and ET diagnosis was made according to the WHO criteria. At time of sampling 43% of PV patients and 54% of ET patients were receiving myelosuppressive therapy. To establish a cut-off value 28 healthy persons (15 female, 13 male) were also analysed. RNA was extracted from whole-blood leucocytes and quantified by real-time TaqMan PCR. ABL was used to control the mRNA quality (Ct ABL PRV-1/ABL mRNA ratio in healthy controls, PV, SE/RE and ET