Brandi Reeves, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, was awarded a 2-year Hemostasis & Thrombosis Research Society Mentored Research Award to evaluate the role of hypoxia-inducible factors (HIF) in myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN)-associated thrombosis. Rafal Pawlinski, Phd, and Nigel Key, MBBS CHB FRCP, will serve as mentors for the project.
Thrombosis is the leading cause of mortality in individuals with MPNs. Despite current treatments, which aim to normalize peripheral blood cell counts, 25% of MPN patients experience a thrombotic event. It was recently shown that neutrophils from MPN patients have increased HIF-mediated gene expression and tissue factor (TF) expression, both of which positively correlated with thrombosis history. Drs. Reeves, Pawlinksi, and Key further reported the novel finding of increased TF procoagulant activity of MPN neutrophils. These findings together suggest that HIF pathway upregulation in MPN may contribute to its hypercoagulable state. The current research proposal will evaluate the link between HIF and neutrophil TF to increased thrombotic risk using a mouse model of MPN.