Key Terms: Investigational drug.
Definition
Thrombopoietin is an investigational or experimental drug that may increase the number of platelets in the bloodstream.
Purpose
Thrombopoietin is an experimental drug that may be used to treat thrombocytopenia (a reduced number of platelets in the blood).
Description
Thrombocytopenia, or a low number of platelets in the blood, can be a life-threatening condition. Platelets are necessary for the normal process of blood clotting. When someone experiences thrombocytopenia, a cut or bruise might not heal quickly, or at all, without medical intervention. Therefore, patients with a low platelet cell count must take special precautions, and suffer significant risk.
Thrombocytopenia is a common side effect from many common chemotherapy agents. These agents temporarily decrease the production of platelets, as well as white blood cells that fight infection and red blood cells that carry oxygen. Carboplatin is an example of an agent that has a tendency to lower platelet counts. Like other cells of the blood (white blood cells and red blood cells), the number of platelets will generally increase and return to normal over days and weeks following the administration of chemotherapy.
By reducing the severity of platelet-related side effects, thrombopoietin could allow the antitumor medication to be used at higher doses and/or for longer periods of time. Thrombopoietin may also be used in other situations in which patients have low platelet cell counts.
Thrombopoietin is derived from the gene of the same name. A laboratory-synthesized version of the human gene product encourages the development of platelet cells from precursor cells in the blood.
Thrombopoietin is an investigational, or an experimental, drug in the U.S.. This means that the FDA has not approved this drug for general use as of mid-2001. Generally, investigational drugs are made available through participation in clinical trials.
Recommended Dosage, Precautions, Side Effects, and Interactions
As noted above, investigational drugs generally are prescribed as part of a clinical trial. Clinical trials seek to determine how effective a drug is at treating the targeted condition, the effective dose of the drug, any precautions patients should take before the drug is administered, any side effects the drug may have, and any interactions the investigational drug may have with other drugs. Since thrombopoietin is investigational, it is premature to discuss dosage, precautions, side effects, and interactions.
—Michael Zuck, Ph.D.
An α2-globulin, a hormone involved in the differentiation and maturation of platelets but thought to be responsible for regulating the supply of platelets.
| Thrombopoietin | |||||||||||||
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PDB rendering based on 1v7m. |
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| Identifiers | |||||||||||||
| Symbols | THPO; MGC163194; MGDF; MKCSF; ML; MPLLG; TPO | ||||||||||||
| External IDs | OMIM: 600044 MGI: 101875 HomoloGene: 398 GeneCards: THPO Gene | ||||||||||||
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| RNA expression pattern | |||||||||||||
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| Orthologs | |||||||||||||
| Species | Human | Mouse | |||||||||||
| Entrez | 7066 | 21832 | |||||||||||
| Ensembl | ENSG00000090534 | ENSMUSG00000022847 | |||||||||||
| UniProt | P40225 | Q543R9 | |||||||||||
| RefSeq (mRNA) | NM_000460.2 | NM_009379 | |||||||||||
| RefSeq (protein) | NP_000451.1 | NP_033405 | |||||||||||
| Location (UCSC) | Chr 3: 184.09 – 184.1 Mb |
Chr 16: 20.73 – 20.73 Mb |
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| PubMed search | [1] | [2] | |||||||||||
Thrombopoietin (THPO) also known as megakaryocyte growth and development factor (MGDF) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the THPO gene.
Thrombopoietin is a glycoprotein hormone produced mainly by the liver and the kidney that regulates the production of platelets by the bone marrow. It stimulates the production and differentiation of megakaryocytes, the bone marrow cells that fragment into large numbers of platelets.[1]
Megakaryocytopoiesis is the cellular development process that leads to platelet production. The protein encoded by this gene is a humoral growth factor that is necessary for megakaryocyte proliferation and maturation, as well as for thrombopoiesis. This protein is the ligand for MLP/C_MPL, the product of myeloproliferative leukemia virus oncogene.[2]
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The thrombopoietin gene is located on the long arm of chromosome 3 (q26.3-27). Abnormalities in this gene occur in some hereditary forms of thrombocytosis (high platelet count) and in some cases of leukemia. The first 155 amino acids of the protein share homology with erythropoietin.[3]
In the liver it is produced by parenchymal cells and sinusoidal endothelial cells. In the kidney it is made by proximal convoluted tubule cells. Along with these it is made by striated muscle and stromal cells in the bone marrow.[1] In the liver, its production is augmented by interleukin 6 (IL-6).[1]. However, physiologically, the liver and the bone marrow stromal cells are the primary sites of thrombopoietin production.
Thrombopoietin regulates the differentiation of megakaryocytes and platelets, but studies on the removal of the thrombopoietin receptor show that its effects on hematopoiesis are more versatile.[1]
Its negative feedback is different from most hormones in endocrinology: the effector regulates the hormone directly. Thrombopoietin is bound to the surface of platelets by the mpl receptor (CD 110) and destroyed, thereby reducing megakaryocyte exposure to the hormone.[1]
Therefore, the rising and dropping platelet concentrations regulate the thrombopoietin levels. Low platelets lead a higher degree of thrombopoietin exposure to the undifferentiated bone marrow cells; leading to differentiation into megakaryocytes and further maturation of these cells. On the contrary, high platelet concentrations lead to the reversal of these physiologic mechanisms.
Despite numerous trials, thrombopoietin is not used therapeutically. Theoretical uses include the procurement of platelets for donation,[4] recovery of platelet counts after myelosuppressive chemotherapy.[1]
Trials of a modified recombinant form, megakaryocyte growth and differentiation factor (MGDF), were stopped when healthy volunteers developed autoantibodies to endogenous thrombopoietin and then developed thrombocytopenia themselves.[5] Romiplostim and Eltrombopag, structurally different compounds which stimulate the same pathway, are used instead.[6]
A quadrivalent peptide analogue is undergoing development, as well as several small molecule agents,[1] including several non-peptide ligands of c-Mpl, which act as thrombopoietin analogues.[7][8]
Thrombopoietin was cloned by five independent groups in 1994. Before its identification, its function has been hypothesized for as much as 30 years as being linked to the cell surface receptor c-Mpl, and in older publications thrombopoietin is described as c-Mpl ligand (the agent that binds to the c-Mpl molecule). Thrombopoietin is one of the Class I hematopoietic cytokines.[1]
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