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CHRONIC MYELOPROLIFERATIVE NEOPLASMS

RBC distribution width predicts thrombosis risk in polycythemia vera

Leukemia volume 36, pages 566–568 (2022)Cite this article

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Thrombosis is a common complication and cause of death in persons with polycythemia vera (PV) with an lifetime incidence of 20–30 percent [1, 2]. Thrombosis risk correlates with age, prior thrombosis, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, leukocytosis, JAK2V617F allele burden and therapy in some, but not all, studies [1,2,3,4,5]. Only age and prior thrombosis are included in thrombosis risk stratification: persons age ≥ 60 years and/or with prior thrombosis are defined as high-risk and others, low-risk [6]. Recently, two studies reported RBC distribution width (RDW) predicts thrombosis in persons with PV but the data are inconsistent and these studies had few subjects and included subjects not newly-diagnosed [7, 8]. Several original findings in thrombosis of persons with PV are being reported in this study.

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Fig. 1: Percentage of patients with thrombosis and thrombosis-free survivals.

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Acknowledgements

Supported in part by National Natural Science Funds (No. 81530008,81870104, 82070134), Tianjin Natural Science Funds (18JCZDJC34900, 16JCQNJC11400, 19JCQNJC09400), CAMS Initiative Fund for Medical Sciences (No. 2016-I2M-1-001, 2020-I2M-C&T-A-020, 2020-I2M-C&T-B-090). RPG acknowledges support from the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre funding scheme. Prof. Tiziano Barbui (Oespedale Papa Giovani XXIII, Bergamo) kindly reviewed the typescript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Experimental Hematology, National Clinical Research Center for Blood Diseases, Institute of Hematology and Blood Diseases Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Tianjin, China

    Dan Liu, Bing Li, Zefeng Xu, Peihong Zhang, Tiejun Qin, Shiqiang Qu, Lijuan Pan, Xiujuan Sun, Zhongxun Shi, Huijun Huang, Huijun Wang & Zhijian Xiao

  2. MDS and MPN Centre, Institute of Hematology and Blood Diseases Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Tianjin, China

    Dan Liu, Bing Li, Zefeng Xu, Tiejun Qin, Shiqiang Qu, Lijuan Pan, Zhongxun Shi, Huijun Huang & Zhijian Xiao

  3. Hematologic Pathology Center, Institute of Hematology and Blood Diseases Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Tianjin, China

    Peihong Zhang, Huijun Wang & Zhijian Xiao

  4. Haematology Research Centre, Department of Immunology and Inflammation, Imperial College London, London, UK

    Robert Peter Gale

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Contributions

ZJX designed the study. DL and ZFX collected and analyzed the data. PHZ analyzed the bone marrow histology. TJQ, SQQ, LJP and XJS recruited subjects and collected the data. DL prepared the typescript with contributions from ZJX, ZFX, BL, RPG, ZXS, HJH and HJW. All authors reviewed the typescript, approved this version and agreed to submit for publication.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zhijian Xiao.

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Competing interests

RPG is a consultant to BeiGene Ltd., Fusion Pharma LLC, LaJolla NanoMedical Inc., Mingsight Parmaceuticals Inc. and CStone Pharmaceuticals; advisor to Antegene Biotech LLC, Medical Director, FFF Enterprises Inc.; partner, AZAC Inc.; Board of Directors, Russian Foundation for Cancer Research Support; and Scientific Advisory Board: StemRad Ltd. The remaining authors declare no competing interests.

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Liu, D., Li, B., Xu, Z. et al. RBC distribution width predicts thrombosis risk in polycythemia vera. Leukemia 36, 566–568 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41375-021-01410-2

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