血小板生成素研究进展

Recent advances in thrombopoietin research

血小板生成素(thrombopoietin,TPO)是近几年发现的一种造血生长因子,其功能是促进巨核细胞的发育成熟,调节血液中血小板的水平。由于它在临床上纠正较难对付的血小板减少症方面具有较好的应用前景,短短两年时间其开发研究已进入了Ⅰ/Ⅱ期临床试验,据称初步结果比较乐观;在理论研究方面,TPO基因的克隆大大丰富了人们对巨核细胞发育过程和调控机制的认识,出现了大量相关文献。本文根据最新文献,综述人们在有关TPO的表达调控、信号转导、生物活性、临床应用等方面的认识。

Thrombopoietin is a newly found hemopoietic growth factor that stimulates the development and maturation of megakaryocytes and thus regulates the platelet level in the blood. Owing to its potential clinical use in the curing of thrombocytopenia for which we have no better methods except platelet transfusion, phase Ⅰ / Ⅱ clinical trials have been initiated concerning its usage as an accessory drug in cancer chemotherapy to prevent thrombocytopenia only two years after its gene was cloned. The cloning of TPO gene has greatly helped us in understanding the process and regulation of megakaryocyte development and a great number of articles have been published on various aspect of TPO. This review outlines our new knowledge of TPO, especially on its expression and regulation, signal transduction, biological activity and potential clinical usage according to recently published references.