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Megakaryocyte Differentiation and Platelet Formation from Human Cord Blood-derived CD34+ Cells
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Platelet formation

Jonathan N Thon1, Joseph E Italiano

  • 1Translational Medicine Division, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA.

Seminars in Hematology
|July 13, 2010
PubMed

Thrombocytopenia is the underlying cause of a number of major clinical conditions and genetic disorders worldwide. While therapeutic agents that bind and stimulate the thrombopoietin receptor are currently available, the development of drugs that directly stimulate megakaryocytes to generate platelets has lagged behind. To improve the management of thrombocytopenia, we will need to define the cell biological pathways that drive the production of platelets from megakaryocytes. This review integrates the latest research of platelet biogenesis and focuses on the molecular pathways that power and regulate proplatelet production.

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