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Chromosome studies in polycythemia vera

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Virchows Archiv B

Summary

Polycythemia vera (PV) represents an apparent monoclonal stem cell proliferation with a frequent transition to full neoplastic behavior. Up to 26% of untreated PV patients can be expected to have some chromosome abnormalities in the marrow at the time of diagnosis, and 10–15% have an abnormal cell line or clone. Both structural and numerical aberrations occur. Aneuploidy is the most common type of chromosome abnormality, however, with hyperdiploid clones occurring more frequently than hypodiploid clones. Chromosomes 1, 8, 9 and 20 are involved in a non-random pattern, and aberrations of all the F group, or at least the No. 20 chromosome seem to be associated to some extent with diseases involving erythroid hyperplasia. Leukemia develops in a certain percentage of patients regardless of the type of treatment they have received, but the relationship, if any, between the chromosome abnormalities and the development of leukemia is still uncertain. The abnormal clones that occur in PV appear to be quite stable and there is no indication at this time that they correlate with a prognosis of leukemic transformation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, 03755, Hanover, N.H., USA

    D. H. Wurster-Hill

  2. Norris Cotton Cancer Center, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, 03755, Hanover, N.H., USA

    D. H. Wurster-Hill & O. R. Mclntyre

  3. Department of Medicine, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, 03755, Hanover, N.H., USA

    O. R. Mclntyre

Authors
  1. D. H. Wurster-Hill
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  2. O. R. Mclntyre
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Additional information

This work has, in part, been supported by CA10728 to the Polycythemia Vera Study Group, chaired by Dr. Louis Wasserman, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York. Members of the Cytogenetics Subcommittee are: Drs. O.R. McIntyre (Chairman), L.Y.F. Hsu, R. Pierre, J. Whang-Peng, D.H. Wurster-Hill, K. Hirschhorn, and R. Berger. Further partial support has been provided by National Cancer Institute Contract NO1-CN-55199.

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Wurster-Hill, D.H., Mclntyre, O.R. Chromosome studies in polycythemia vera. Virchows Arch. B Cell Path. 29, 39–44 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02899334

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02899334

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