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Blood, 15 November 2004, Vol. 104, No. 10, pp. 3169-3172. Prepublished online as a Blood First Edition Paper on April 22, 2004; DOI 10.1182/blood-2003-11-3861.
HEMATOPOIESIS Potential role of APRIL as autocrine growth factor for megakaryocytopoiesisFrom the Laboratory of Hematology and Oncology, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome Italy; Institut de Génétique Moléculaire de Montpellier, Montpellier, France; Kimmel Cancer Center, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA; and Mediterranean Institute of Oncology, Catania, Italy.
A proliferation-inducing ligand (APRIL) is a new tumor necrosis factor family member implicated in tumor cell proliferation. We investigated the role of APRIL in megakaryocytopoiesis, a developmental hematopoietic process responsible for progenitor cell differentiation to megakaryoblasts and megakaryocytes, leading to platelet formation. APRIL is not expressed in CD34+ progenitor cells from healthy donors, but it is massively up-regulated during the proliferative phase of megakaryocytic cell differentiation. Exogenous APRIL expression in primary cells increases megakaryocytic cell growth, suggesting that APRIL acts as a proliferative factor in megakaryocytopoiesis. More importantly, neutralization of endogenous APRIL was able to dramatically reduce megakaryocyte expansion and platelet production. Thus, our data provide evidence that APRIL acts as a growth factor for terminal megakaryocytopoiesis and may promote physiologic platelet production.
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