The process of platelet production has so far been understood to be a 2-stage process: megakaryocyte maturation from hematopoietic stem cells followed by proplatelet formation, with each phase regulating the peripheral blood platelet count. Proplatelet formation releases into the bloodstream beads-on-a-string preplatelets, which undergo fission into mature platelets. For the first time, we show that preplatelet maturation is a third, tightly regulated, critical process akin to cytokinesis that regulates platelet count. We show that deficiency in cytokine receptor-like factor 3 (CRLF3) in mice leads to an isolated and sustained 25% to 48% reduction in the platelet count without any effect on other blood cell lineages. We show that Crlf3-/- preplatelets have increased microtubule stability, possibly because of increased microtubule glutamylation via the interaction of CRLF3 with key members of the Hippo pathway. Using a mouse model of JAK2 V617F essential thrombocythemia, we show that a lack of CRLF3 leads to long-term lineage-specific normalization of the platelet count. We thereby postulate that targeting CRLF3 has therapeutic potential for treatment of thrombocythemia.
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