The regulation of hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) emergence during development provides important information about the basic mechanisms of blood stem cell generation, expansion, and migration. We set out to investigate the role that cytokine signaling pathways play in these early processes and show here that the 2 cytokines interleukin 3 and thrombopoietin have the ability to expand hematopoieti...

Activation of JAK2 by chromosomal translocation or point mutation is a recurrent event in hematopoietic malignancies, including acute leukemias and myeloproliferative disorders. Although the effects of activated JAK2 signaling have been examined in cell lines and murine models, the functional consequences of deregulated JAK2 in the context of human hematopoietic cells are currently unknown. Her...

Jak2 is a member of the Janus family of tyrosine kinases and is involved in cytokine signaling. As a part of a study to determine biological functions of Jak2, we used molecular modeling to identify W1038 as a residue that is critical for tyrosine kinase function. Mutation of W1038, in tandem with E1046, generates a dominant-negative form of the Jak2 protein. Mice that were engineered to expres...

We tested 357 Chinese with primary myelofibrosis for mutations in CALR, JAK2 and MPL. CALR mutations were detected in 76 subjects (21%). There were 24 (32%) type-1 (L367fs*46) and 49 (64%) type-2 (K385fs*47) mutations. Seventy-two of 168 subjects (43%) without a JAK2 or MPL mutation had a CALR mutation. Subjects with a type-2 CALR mutation had lower hemoglobin concentrations (P=0.001), lower WB...

BACKGROUND Fifty to sixty percent of patients with essential thrombocythemia harbor the JAK2(V617F) mutation. The impact of this mutation on clinical phenotype is still debated. The aim of this study was to evaluate possible correlations between JAK2(V617F) mutant allele burden and both clinical presentation and hematologic abnormalities in essential thrombocythemia patients. DESIGN AND METHO...

To study the role of the JAK2-V617F mutation in leukemic transformation, we examined 27 patients with myeloproliferative disorders (MPDs) who transformed to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). At MPD diagnosis, JAK2-V617F was detectable in 17 of 27 patients. Surprisingly, only 5 of 17 patients developed JAK2-V617F-positive AML, whereas 9 of 17 patients transformed to JAK2-V617F-negative AML. Microsat...

Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) frequently have an activating mutation in the gene encoding Janus kinase 2 (JAK2). Thus, targeting the pathway mediated by JAK and its downstream substrate, signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT), may yield clinical benefit for patients with MPNs containing the JAK2(V617F) mutation. Although JAK inhibitor therapy reduces splenomegaly and impr...

The gene and protein expression profiles in myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) may reveal gene and protein markers of a potential clinical relevance in diagnosis, treatment and prediction of response to therapy. Using cDNA microarray analysis of 25,100 unique genes, we studied the gene expression profile of CD34+ cells and granulocytes obtained from peripheral blood of subjects with essential ...

BACKGROUND A somatic activating mutation (V617F) in the JAK2 tyrosine kinase was recently discovered in the majority of patients with polycythemia vera (PV), and some with essential thrombocythemia (ET) and chronic idiopathic myelofibrosis. However, the role of mutant JAK2 in disease pathogenesis is unclear. METHODS AND FINDINGS We expressed murine JAK2 WT or V617F via retroviral bone marrow ...

Janus kinase 2 (JAK2) is a cytoplasmic protein-tyrosine kinase that catalyzes the transfer of the γ-phosphate group of adenosine triphosphate to the hydroxyl groups of specific tyrosine residues in signal transduction molecules. JAK2 mediates signaling downstream of cytokine receptors after ligand-induced autophosphorylation of both receptor and enzyme. The main downstream effectors of JAK2 are...