Image: Visual abstract shows overlap between MPNs and chronic inflammatory disease.

An interesting perspective on MPNs from respected US haematologist and researcher, Dr Angela Fleischman and her colleague was recently published.

The article highlights the overlap between MPNs as cancer and/or chronic inflammatory disease.

‘….. In addition to elevated blood cell counts, MPN typically presents with increased inflammatory signaling and inflammation symptoms. Therefore, while being a clonally derived neoplasm, MPN has much in common with chronic non-cancerous inflammatory conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and many more. MPN and chronic inflammatory disease share similar chronicity, symptoms, dependency on the immune system, environmental triggers, and treatments.’

The article highlights the similarities between MPNs and chronic inflammatory disease, arguing that ‘while MPN is classified as a cancer, its behaviour is more aligned to that of a chronic inflammatory disease.’
‘We propose that MPN should inhabit a fluid/spectrum between auto-inflammatory disease and cancer.’

The article is available in full HERE.