Procoagulant Platelet-Derived Microparticles Are Lower in Calreticulin-Than in-JAK2-Mutated Essential Thrombocythemia

Rationale: Essential Thrombocythemia (ET) is a Philadelphia-negative myeloproliferative neoplasm characterized by an increased risk of thrombosis. Previous reports suggest a role for microparticles (MP) in the pathogenesis of thrombosis in ET. MPs are small plasma membrane vesicles bearing potent procoagulant proteins and phospholipids. They are released into the circulation by various blood and endothelial cells after cellular activation and/or apoptosis. The recently described somatic calreticulin (CALR) exon 9 mutations in almost 20% of ET defines a lower-risk thrombosis ET subtype. We extensively studied phenotype and procoagulant activity of plasma MPs in order to assess MP contribution to the thrombotic risk in CALR versus JAK2 (V617F) mutated ET patients.

Patients and methods: We analyzed MP count, phenotype and procoagulant activity in 45 JAK2 V617F+ and 15 CALR+ consecutive and newly diagnosed ET patients in accordance to WHO criteria recruited between november 2010 and april 2013. After given informed consent, blood samples were obtained in all patients before initiating any cytoreductive therapy. Pre-analytical and testing procedures complied with the recommendations of the ISTH Standardization Sub-Committee and each test was performed in duplicate . Using flow cytometry (FC500 flow-cytometer, Beckman-Coulter™), MPs were characterized and measured in platelet-free plasma samples. MPs were characterized by their size and co-expression of bound Annexin V and the following cell-specific monoclonal antibodies: CD41 (Platelet-MP, PMP), CD235a (Red cell-MP, RMP), CD14 (Monocytes-MP, MoMP), CD11b (Granulocytes-MP, GMP), CD144 (Endothelial-MP, EMP), CD62P and CD41 (P-Selectin+ PMP), CD142 and CD41 (Tissue Factor (TF)+ PMP, TF+PMP). MP-associated procoagulant activity was also measured using a-thrombin generation assay (Zymuphen™ MP-activity). Statistical analysis was performed with SPSS software. Results are expressed as median [interquartile range].

Results: Patients characteristics: The platelet count (10⁹/L) was higher in CALR+ than in JAK2+ patients (866 [666 – 918], 659 [571 – 807] respectively, p= 0.049), and all other clinical and hematological characteristics were also distributed in agreement with previous reports. Furthermore, CALR+ patients were preferentially distributed in the lower risk categories of the IPSET-thrombosis and IPSET-survival scores than in JAK2+ patients (p<0.00001 and p= 0.04 respectively).

The main results are summarized in table 1. MP count and MP/Platelets ratio were significantly lower in CALR+ than in JAK2+ patients. PMP count, PMP percentage of all MPs and PMP/Platelets ratio were lower in CALR+ than in JAK2+ patients. Furthermore, CALR+ patients had lower PMP surface P-Selectin. MP-associated procoagulant activity/Platelets ratio was significantly lower in CALR+ than in JAK2+ patients. There were no significant differences in TF-carrying PMP or in other cell-derived MP (RMP, MoMP, GMP, EMP).

Conclusion: Our results demonstrate a decreased in circulating procoagulant PMP in CALR+ ET-patients compared to JAK2+ patients and lower platelet activation in CALR+ ET patients as measured by P-Selectin expression on PMP. Thus, as CALR+ patients have lower thrombotic-risk according to the literature and the IPSET-survival and IPSET-thrombosis scores observed in our study, the lower level of procoagulant PMP could account, at least in part, for a lower thrombotic risk of CALR+ ET patients.