Discovery, in vitro and in vivo Biology of c-mpl Ligand

SummarySince the announcement of the discovery of thrombopoietin in 1994, a tremendous amount of research has determined that recombinant c-mpl ligand (ML) is capable of producing the biological effects of a Meg-CSF and thrombopoietin. Thrombopoietin's effects include the stimulation of primitive hematopoietic stem cells, megakaryocyte progenitor cells, megakaryocyte production and maturation and leading to the formation of platelets both in vitro and in vivo. Animal models of chemotherapy-induced thrombocytopenia have yielded data which fore-shadows a beneficial effect of thrombopoietin in clinical thrombocytop…