After an almost 40-year search for a primary regulatory of platelet production, thrombopoietin has recently been purified and cloned. Thrombopoietin regulates all stages in the production of platelets by promoting both the proliferation of megakaryocyte progenitors and their maturation into platelet-producing megakaryocytes. In preclinical studies in normal mice and non-human primates, administ...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the decisive role of preoperative serum thrombopoietin levels in the discrimination of benign and malignant ovarian pathologies and its value in the evaluation of treatment response. METHODS Fifty patients with diagnoses of adnexal masses (25 benign, 25 malignant) were included in the study. Blood samples were collected from all cases preoperatively. Age, menopausal s...

Summary: Chronic immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is an autoimmune disorder characterized by a low platelet count that has persisted for more than 12 months. Patients may be asymptomatic but those with severe, disease may have significant morbidity and require treatment. Historically, the pathogenesis of ITP was believed to be increased platelet destruction by anti-platelet antibodies. Treatment o...

Decades of basic science and clinical research have led to an increased understanding of the pathophysiology of immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), the processes underlying thrombopoiesis, and the treatment of chronic ITP. Now, new agents are available to treat ITP in a nonimmunosuppressive fashion. Lessons learned from the clinical trials of recombinant human thrombopoietin (TPO) have led t...

Although aplastic anemia and myelodysplasia have been extensively investigated, little is known about their circulating cytokine patterns. We compared plasma soluble cytokines in 33 aplastic anemia, 57 myelodysplasia patients, and 48 healthy controls. High levels of thrombopoietin and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, with low levels of CD40 ligand, chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 5, chemok...

Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is characterized by a low platelet count, which is the result of both increased platelet destruction and insufficient platelet production. Although the development of autoantibodies against platelet glycoproteins remains central in the pathophysiology of ITP, several abnormalities involving the cellular mechanisms of immune modulation have been identifi...