Patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) have high levels of inflammatory cytokines, some of which drive many of the debilitating constitutional symptoms associated with the disease and may also promote expansion of the neoplastic clone. We report here that monocytes from patients with MPN have defective negative regulation of Toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling that leads to unrestrained production of the inflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) after TLR activation. Specifically, monocytes of patients with MPN are insensitive to the anti-inflammatory cytokine interleukin 10 (IL-10) that negatively regulates TLR-induced TNF-α production. This inability to respond to IL-10 is a not a direct consequence of JAK2V617F, as the phenotype of persistent TNF-α production is a feature of JAK2V617F and wild-type monocytes alike from JAK2V617F-positive patients. Moreover, persistent TNF-α production was also discovered in the unaffected identical twin of a patient with MPN, suggesting it could be an intrinsic feature of those predisposed to acquire MPN. This work implicates sustained TLR signaling as not only a contributor to the chronic inflammatory state of MPN patients but also a potential predisposition to acquire MPN.

Thrombosis is a major cause of mortality in patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs), though there is currently little to offer patients with MPN beyond aspirin and cytoreductive therapies such as hydroxyurea for primary prevention. Thrombogenesis in MPN involves multiple cellular mechanisms, including platelet activation and neutrophil-extracellular trap formation; therefore, an antithrombotic agent that targets one or more of these processes would be of therapeutic benefit in MPN. Here, we treated the JAK2V617F knockin mouse model of polycythemia vera with N-acetylcysteine (NAC), a sulfhydryl-containing compound with broad effects on glutathione replenishment, free radical scavenging, and reducing disulfide bonds, to investigate its antithrombotic effects in the context of MPN. Strikingly, NAC treatment extended the lifespan of JAK2V617F mice without impacting blood counts or splenomegaly. Using an acute pulmonary thrombosis model in vivo, we found that NAC reduced thrombus formation to a similar extent as the irreversible platelet inhibitor aspirin. In vitro analysis of platelet activation revealed that NAC reduced thrombin-induced platelet-leukocyte aggregate formation in JAK2V617F mice. Furthermore, NAC reduced neutrophil extracellular trap formation in primary human neutrophils from patients with MPN as well as healthy controls. These results provide evidence that N-acetylcysteine inhibits thrombosis in JAK2V617F mice and provide a pre-clinical rationale for investigating NAC as a therapeutic to reduce thrombotic risk in MPN.

Electronic cigarettes (E-cigs) generate nicotine containing aerosols for inhalation and have emerged as a popular tobacco product among adolescents and young adults, yet little is known about their health effects due to their relatively recent introduction. Few studies have assessed the long-term effects of inhaling E-cigarette smoke or vapor. Here, we show that two months of E-cigarette exposure causes suppression of bone marrow hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs). Specifically, the common myeloid progenitors and granulocyte-macrophage progenitors were decreased in E-cig exposed animals compared to air exposed mice. Competitive reconstitution in bone marrow transplants was not affected by two months of E-cig exposure. When air and E-cig exposed mice were challenged with an inflammatory stimulus using lipopolysaccharide (LPS), competitive fitness between the two groups was not significantly different. However, mice transplanted with bone marrow from E-cigarette plus LPS exposed mice had elevated monocytes in their peripheral blood at five months post-transplant indicating a myeloid bias similar to responses of aged hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) to an acute inflammatory challenge. We also investigated whether E-cigarette exposure enhances the selective advantage of hematopoietic cells with myeloid malignancy associated mutations. E-cigarette exposure for one month slightly increased JAK2V617F mutant cells in peripheral blood but did not have an impact on TET2−/− cells. Altogether, our findings reveal that chronic E-cigarette exposure for two months alters the bone marrow HSPC populations but does not affect HSC reconstitution in primary transplants.

Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha (TNF) is elevated in myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN) and plays a key role in expansion of the JAK2V617F neoplastic clone. Because JAK2V617F cells are TNF resistant, a high TNF environment, as is the case in MPN patients, gives JAK2V617F mutant cells a selective advantage over their TNF sensitive non-mutant counterparts, resulting in expansion of the neoplastic clone. Targeting excessive TNF production therapeutically in MPN would reduce the competitive advantage of the JAK2V617F neoplastic clone and lead to its contraction. To efficiently target TNF production therapeutically in MPN it is necessary to first identify the mechanism driving this excessive TNF production. TNF is classically produced by monocytes after stimulation through Toll-like receptors (TLR), crucial pattern recognition receptors for microbial products. Upon TLR stimulation a signaling transduction cascade ensues, culminating in the production of inflammatory cytokines including TNF. Because TLR signaling plays an integral role in inflammation and TNF production we hypothesized that exaggerated signaling of the TLR pathway is the mechanism by which TNF is overproduced in MPN. To test this hypothesis we quantified TLR responses in monocytes from MPN patients and normal controls. We compared the response to the TLR 7/8 agonist R848 in peripheral blood monocytes from MPN versus normal controls. After stimulation with R848 for 24 hours, CD14+ monocytes from MPN patients (n=18) produced increased amounts of TNF (measured by ELISA) as compared to normal controls (n=10) at all concentrations tested (0.5, 1, 3, 5µM, p<0.05). The percentage of TNF+ CD14+ monocytes (detected by intracellular flow cytometery) after stimulation with R848 was not different in MPN (n=16) versus normal controls (n=8). This demonstrates that the excessive TNF production in MPN is not due to an increased fraction of monocytes producing TNF but by exaggerated TNF production in MPN on a per cell basis. Without stimulation, however, MPN patients have an increased percentage of TNF+ CD14+ monocytes as compared to normal controls (4.6% vs 1.6% respectively, p<0.05), suggestive of a hyper-inflammatory state at baseline. We next used phosflow to detect whether MPN patients have abnormal activation of downstream signaling molecules following stimulation with R848. At early time points (15min) following stimulation with R848 (5µM), MPN patients (n=6) and normal controls (n=6) phosphorylated p38 and ERK1/2 equally. At later time points (2hrs) MPN patients maintained phosphorylation of p38 and ERK1/2, whereas in normal controls phosphorylation of p38 and ERK1/2 returned to baseline (p<0.05). These data suggest that the excessive production of TNF in MPN patients may be due either to persistent activation of signaling following TLR stimulation or failure to repress the activation state of these two proteins. Targeting the TLR pathway therapeutically in MPN may serve to reduce TNF production and neutralize the selective advantage of the JAK2V617F neoplastic clone, ultimately leading to reduction in the JAK2V617F allele burden. Disclosures: Fleischman: Incyte: Speakers Bureau.

The human microbiome is composed of trillions of micro-organisms living in symbiosis with the human body. The interest in the microbiome and the clinical impact of its disruption (dysbiosis) has grown exponentially in the past years, especially in the oncology field. Microbiota play an instructive role in chronic inflammatory disorders and determine response to checkpoint inhibitors cancers, such as melanoma. Increased inflammation in myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) drive many of the symptoms associated with this disease and inflammation also likely plays an important role as a driver of the disease. We hypothesized that the microbiome may be dysregulated in MPN which could contribute to the increased inflammatory cytokines seen in this disease and that the microbiome could also potentially impact symptom burden. We compared the gut microbiota of 25 patients with classical MPN, essential thrombocythemia (ET), polycythemia vera (PV) and primary and secondary myelofibrosis (MF) to that of 25 normal controls. Whenever possible, co-inhabiting adults such as a spouse were used as normal controls. Exclusion criteria were acute illness and antibiotics treatment for three months preceding the study. Each participant collected three stool specimens in the course of one week and a subset of the group (n=20) had peripheral blood drawn. The stool microbiome was analyzed using 16S rRNA sequencing and plasma inflammatory cytokines (TNFα, IL-6, IL-8, IL-17a, IL-10, IFNγ, IFNa2, IL-22, IL1-β, GRO, IP-10) were measured using Luminex multiplex analysis. Participants also completed an intake survey which included symptom burden (MPN-SAF TSS) and dietary intake. Characteristics of our MPN patient cohort and normal controls are shown in Table 1. Plasma levels of TNFα and IP-10 were significantly higher in the MPN group versus normal controls (respectively p=0.013 and p=0.0050). We divided the group into those with high (MPN-SAF > 20) and low (MPN-SAF ≤ 20) symptom burden, 7 (28%) patients had high symptom burden affecting considerably their quality of life. Fatigue and early satiety were the most common complaints. GRO (CXCL1) was significantly lower in MPN patients MPN patients with a lower symptom burden (p=0.0287) as compared to those with a high symptom burden. The 16S rRNA gene sequencing did not reveal a significant difference between MPN patients and their healthy counterparts (PERMANOVA, p = 0.83), a large amount of variance in the microbiome data was explained by the individual (PERMANOVA, p= 0.0001), in concordance with other studies suggesting that the microbiome is highly individualistic. To determine whether certain taxa are differentially represented in MPN patients as compared to normal controls, a SIMPER test was used. Prevotellaceae, a family of bacteria implicated in chronic inflammatory conditions, was 20% higher in MPN patients than in normal controls. To test which cytokines explained the most variance in the microbiome data, a distance-based linear model was used (DistLM). TNFα and IL-17a, taken alone, explain 18.7% and 14.5% respectively. The microbiome of patients with a high symptom burden was not significantly different from MPN patients with low symptom burden. We did find a significant difference between the microbiomes of patients treated with Ruxolitinib versus Hydroxyurea. Taken together, this pilot study suggests that inflammation associated with MPN may be driving changes in the microbiome at a finer level, undetected when comparing broad microbial diversity metrics between health and disease. It is still not clear whether the inflammation first modulates the microbiome or whether the gut microbiota triggers the inflammatory signals driving the disease. A larger number of subjects may help answer these questions. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.