Myeloproliferative Disorders

We tend to think of cancer as acute. Get it out quickly, go through treatments, prevent it from spreading. But for those with a chronic cancer like an MPN, there isn’t a distinctive beginning, middle and end - Ruth Fein Revell

image by: MPN Research Foundation

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A blood cancer diagnosis helped me find true happiness

December 2017, and the Christmas party season is in full flow. Everywhere I look are scenes from some hilariously awful Dickens pastiche: revellers squeezed into warm pubs; joyful chatter spilling out on to the street; the sound of carols and the scent of mulled wine in the air. It’s as if I am peering in at it all through frosted glass, wishing my own Christmas could be as carefree.

Instead, I have spent a morning turned on my side on a hospital bed while a nervous-looking young doctor works up a sweat attempting to force a long needle into my hipbone. He needs it to go deep enough that he can suck out some of the marrow inside, but my tough bones are making life difficult for him.

I…

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Resources

Drug Could Be Repurposed To Treat Deadly Blood Cancer

A drug used to treat certain advanced breast cancers may offer a new treatment option for a deadly blood cancer known as myelofibrosis, new research from UVA Cancer Center suggests. The drug, palbociclib, may be able to prevent the scarring of bone marrow that existing treatments for myelofibrosis cannot.

Nobody Wants Cancer. But a ‘Big C’ Label Has Surprising Upsides.

Classifying a rare blood disorder as a cancer opened new doors for disease investigation, treatment and hope for a cure.

Discovery Could Boost New Therapies for Myeloproliferative Neoplasms

Blood cancers called myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) are driven by mutations in a gene called JAK2. Current drugs that inhibit the protein made by mutated JAK2 don’t work as well as initially hoped. A new compound that targets this protein when it is in an inactive structural state appears to be more effective and less toxic, raising hopes that this will lead to better drugs for MPNs.

The history of myeloproliferative disorders: before and after Dameshek

In 1951, William Dameshek described the concept of ‘myeloproliferative disorders (MPDs)’ by grouping together chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), polycythemia vera (PV), essential thrombocythemia (ET), primary myelofibrosis (PMF) and erythroleukemia; he reasoned that a self-perpetuating trilineage myeloproliferation underlined their pathogenesis.

A blood cancer diagnosis helped me find true happiness

Suddenly, I could see my previous life – of pointless anxieties, petty rivalries and overthinking – for what it was.

MPN Cancer Connection

Welcome to MPN Cancer Connection, where a brighter future for MPN patients shines on the horizon with opportunity, new treatments and resources for improved patient care.

MPN Research Foundation

Partner. Advocate. Friend. At the MPN Research Foundation, we’re committed to standing with you in the fight against polycythemia vera (PV), essential thrombocythemia (ET) and myelofibrosis (MF) – the group of blood cancers collectively known as myeloproliferative neoplasms.

MPN Voice

MPN Voice offers a unique buddy system, supported by healthcare professionals, putting MPN patients in contact with other patients who can provide a sympathetic and supportive ear for when things are new, tough or confusing.

Myelofibrosis Research

Learn about research studies for a study medication targeting Myelofibrosis.

Jakafi

Jakafi is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with polycythemia vera who have already taken a medicine called hydroxyurea and it did not work well enough or they could not tolerate it. Jakafi is used to treat adults with certain types of myelofibrosis.

Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research

Myeloproliferative disorders – sometimes called myeloproliferative neoplasms – are cancer-like diseases in which too many blood cells are produced in the bone marrow. This hinders the normal production of blood cells. The excess blood cells can also disrupt the function of the blood.

GARD

Chronic myeloproliferative disorders are a group of slow-growing blood cancers in which the bone marrow makes too many abnormal red blood cells, white blood cells, or platelets, which accumulate in the blood.