Clinically, the increase in spleen size in patients with chronic liver disease is nearly always a manifestation of portal hypertension [39][40]; conversely, although thrombocytopenia can result from immune-mediated mechanisms or lower thrombopoietin synthesis [16][41], in most cases it is usually caused by splenic pooling of platelets due to portal hypertension [15][42]. This evidence concerns the gene THPO and portal hypertension.