Sialic acid of platelets and granulocytes in polycythemia vera.

Previous studies have shown that erythrocytes of polycythemia vera (PV) patients have an increased content of sialic acid on their membrane compared with normal erythrocytes. This has been attributed to the presence of an abnormal clone known to proliferate in this disease. Since granulocytes and platelets originate from the same stem cell that is involved in this disease, it was of interest to see whether these cells also bear increased amounts of sialic acid compared with their normal counterparts. While normal values were found for granulocyte populations, elevated values were found for the platelet populations of PV patients.