Our data point toward a complex activation of STAT5-dependent pathways in the stem/progenitor cell compartment, that characterize the phenotypic diversity of PMF.
These include: i) more pronounced expression of phosphoSTAT5 protein in patients with JAK2V617F mutation compared to patients with wild-type of JAK2 kinase ii) different expression pattern of pSTAT5 in the nucleus and the cytoplasm of megakaryocytes and other bone marrow cells; iii) approximately 5-fold higher expression level of STAT5a gene in PV in comparison to patients with PMF and approximately 2-fold higher than in ET patients; iv) different, intracellular expression patterns of ERK2 and ERK1/2 antigens allowed to distinguish each subtype of MPN.
These data indicate that expression of TEL-Syk in fetal liver hematopoietic cells results in JAK-independent STAT5 phosphorylation ultimately leading to a uniquely aggressive and lethal form of myelofibrosis.
However, phosphorylation of STAT3 and STAT5 in cells from patients with myelofibrosis was significantly less inhibited when compared with cells from patients with polycythemia vera, essential thrombocythemia, and normal donors.
Hemopoietic progenitor cells (HPC) from myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) such as myelofibrosis commonly express mutant JAK2-V617F or other mutations that are associated with increased activities of JAK-STAT5/3, RAS/RAF/MAPK, and PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathways.
JAK2(V617F) failed to induce polycythemia in recipients after deletion of Stat5a/b, although the loss of STAT5 did not prevent the development of myelofibrosis.
To evaluate the frequency of MPL W515L, W515K and S505N mutations in essential thrombocythemia (ET) and primary myelofibrosis (PMF) and to determine whether MPLW515L leads to impaired Mpl expression, constitutive STAT3 and STAT5 activation and enhanced response to thrombopoietin (TPO).
In this study, we have analyzed a series of 114 patients (54 with polycythemia vera [PV], 44 with essential thrombocythemia [ET], 12 with idiopathic myelofibrosis [IM], and 4 with myelofibrosis secondary to MPD) for the expression pattern of phosphorylated STAT-3 and STAT-5 (pSTAT-3 and pSTAT-5, respectively) by immunostaining bone marrow biopsies.
We examined the expression of activated STAT5 (nuclear phospho-STAT5) in 73 bone marrow biopsies from patients with CMPDs [20 essential thrombocythemia (ET), 26 chronic idiopathic myelofibrosis (CIMF), and 27 polycythemia vera] and 39 controls.