In ET patients' leukocytes we found an overexpression of the anti-apoptotic genes A1, BCL2, BCL-XL and BCLW (16.10, 2.21, 2.71 and 2.21, respectively) when compared with controls (0.49, 0.88, 0.80 and 1.06, respectively) (p < 0.0001, p = 0.0218, p = 0.0043 and p = 0.0342, respectively) (Figure 2A-D). Here, BCL2 is linked to essential thrombocythemia.