Mutant calreticulin: when a chaperone becomes intrusive

Abstract

In this issue of Blood, Marty et al, Chachoua et al, and Araki et al report results of studies unraveling the molecular pathogenesis of CALR-mutant myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs). Together, these 3 reports define a novel disease paradigm, whereby a mutant chaperone constitutively activates receptor signaling through an abnormal interaction with the thrombopoietin (TPO) receptor (MPL).