Looking for treatments for essential thrombocythaemia

Cytokine Receptor-Like Factor 3 (CRLF3): a novel target for prevention of cardiovascular events in patients with thrombocythaemia

People with the condition essential thrombocythaemia (ET) have too many platelets in the blood and are at increased risk of cardiovascular events. This is because an excess of platelets can lead to excessive clotting and blockage of the vessels in the heart or brain. This can increase a person’s risk of heart attack or stroke. New and improved drugs that lower the number of platelets are in need to reduce this risk. Dr Ghevaert and team at the University of Cambridge are looking at mice which lack a protein called Crlf3, as they have been shown to have lower platelet counts than those with the protein. The researchers are exploring the structure of Crlf3, what it interacts with, and how lack of Crlf3 makes bone marrow produce less platelets. The team are also crossbreeding mice lacking Crlf3 with mice that have high platelet count to see whether a decrease in Crlf3 can return platelet count to normal. In this project, the Cambridge team are seeing whether blocking Crlf3 could be used to reduce the number of platelets in people with high platelet count. This could help scientists develop treatments for people with ET and also new heart attack and stroke drugs which target Crlf3.