BIK and essential thrombocythemia: Gene expression analysis in CD34+ HSC from ET patients showed an increased expression of anti-apoptotic genes A1 and MCL1 and of pro-apoptotic genes BID and BIK (median = 39.25, 2.07, 5.69 and 2.99, respectively) in comparison to controls (0.986, 0.431, 1.15 and 1.36, respectively) (p < 0.0001, p = 0.0349, p = 0.0128 and p = 0.0279, respectively) (Figure 1A-D).