Figure 1.

(a) Blood TLR2 levels were elevated in PV or MPN (ET, PV, and MF grouped as MPN). TLR2 levels were measured by flow cytometry (MFI). One hundred nineteen MPN patients (51 ET, 37 PV, 31MF (including eight post-ET MF, eight post-PV-MF, and 15 PMF)) were compared with 21 normal volunteer controls. The mean TLR2 values were ET (290.6 ± 9.8), PV (358.5 ± 26.01), MF (231.3 ± 9.89), and controls (220.6 ± 9.8). TLR2 was significantly elevated in the PV (P  < 0.001), ET (P  < 0.01), and MPN (grouping ET, PV, and MF together as MPN) (P  < 0.01) relative to the controls. MF was not significantly different from controls. Pairwise comparison the three MPN, ET was less than PV (P  < 0.01), and PV (P  < 0.001) and ET (P  < 0.05) were more than MF. (b) Patients with elevated TLR2 level (values more than 2 standard devation of controls) have increased TLR2 expression in CD34⁺, CD3⁺, CD14⁺, CD71⁺, and CD20⁺ cells; CD41⁺ cells were not over expressed. (c) TLR4 levels were not significantly elevated in PV, ET, or MF compared to controls but were significantly elevated when PV, ET, and MF were grouped as MPN. TLR4 was measured by flow cytometry (MFI). Sixty MPN patients were studied, including 20 ET, 25 PV, 15 MF, and 19 controls. The mean TLR4 values were ET (213.2 ± 9.8), PV (227.5 ± 7.9), MF (223.6 ± 11.2), and controls (200.1 ± 7.2). There were no significant differences when comparing the ET, PV, and MF groups to the controls, but when ET, PV, and MF were grouped as MPN, a significant difference was detected (P=0.04).