Martyré M C, Romquin N, Le Bousse-Kerdiles M C, Chevillard S, Benyahia B, Dupriez B, Demory J L, Bauters F
Unité 365 INSERM, Institut Curie, Section de Biologie, Paris, France.
Br J Haematol. 1994 Sep;88(1):9-16. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2141.1994.tb04970.x.
Although the disease is well described, the pathogenesis of bone marrow fibrosis in idiopathic myelofibrosis still remains unclear. We previously reported elevated intraplatelet transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) levels in patients with this myeloproliferative disorder, compared with healthy subjects. Here, in a series of 16 patients, we show that TGF-beta expression is also increased in patients' peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC): (i) at the mRNA level analysed by Northern blot hybridization and/or reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR); (ii) and/or at the secreted peptide level as evaluated in conditioned media from patients' mononuclear cells by a growth inhibition assay on CC164 cells. By immunostaining with a polyclonal anti-TGF-beta 1 antibody, TGF-beta was localized in morphologically heterogenous cells; these cells were characterized as megakaryocytes by labelling with a gpIIbIIIa monoclonal antibody. Thus we provide evidence that both TGF-beta and megakaryocytes are linked in the pathogenesis of idiopathic myelofibrosis.
