Quantitation of RNA-dependent platelet DNA polymerase in patients with myeloproliferative disorders

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Abstract
Platelets from 28 patients with the myeloproliferative diseases (MPD) polycythemia vera (9), essential thrombocythemia (6), myelofibrosis with myeloid metaplasia (5) and chronic myelogenous leukemia (8) were examined for an RNA-dependent DNA polymerase activity using standardized conditions permitting highly reproducible quantitation. Low levels of activity were detected in platelets of normal individuals, but platelets of nearly all MPD patients (25/28) possessed higher levels. The polymerase activity correlated with diagnosis (P = 0.001) and did not correlate with platelet counts (P > 0.2). Quantitation of this RNA-dependent DNA polymerase activity may be a useful parameter in the diagnosis of myeloproliferative disorders.