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An intracellular signaling pathway — the Janus kinase (JAK) signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) — has been strongly implicated in myeloproliferative disorders. A particular gain-of-function mutation (JAK2 V617F) is present in almost all people with polycythemia vera (PV) and about half of those with essential thrombocythemia (ET) or primary myelofibrosis (PM). A class of drugs known as JAK-STAT inhibitors might curtail myeloproliferation and ameliorate these disorders. In a manufacturer-funded study, researchers from two major cancer centers tested a drug from this class, known as INCB018424, in 153 patients with myelofibrosis.
Of the cohort, 53% had PM; the rest had myelofibrosis in association with PV (32%) or ET (15%).…