Coexistence of Multiple Gene Variants in Some Patients with Erythrocytoses.

BACKGROUND

Erythrocytosis is a relatively common condition; however, a large proportion of these patients (70%) remain without a clear etiologic explanation.

METHODS

We set up a targeted NGS panel for patients with erythrocytosis, and 118 sporadic patients with idiopathic erythrocytosis were studied.

RESULTS

In 40 (34%) patients, no variant was found, while in 78 (66%), we identified at least one germinal variant; 55 patients (70.5%) had 1 altered gene, 18 (23%) had 2 alterations, and 5 (6.4%) had 3. An altered gene was observed in 51 cases (57.1%), in 18 (22.6%) and , , , and variants in 7.7%, 10.3%, 11.5%, and 14.1% patients, respectively. In 23 patients (19.45%), more than 1 putative variant was found in multiple genes.

CONCLUSIONS

Genetic variants in patients with erythrocytosis were detected in about 2/3 of our cohort. An NGS panel including more candidate genes should reduce the number of cases diagnosed as "idiopathic" erythrocytosis in which a cause cannot yet be identified. It is known that variants are common in idiopathic erythrocytosis. alterations support the existence of a relationship between genes involved in iron metabolism and impaired erythropoiesis. Some novel multiple variants were identified. Erythrocytosis appears to be often multigenic.