TPO and cancer: Results showed different TPO expression with regard to the cell lines considered: ovarian (OVCAR-3 and SKOV-3) and leukemia (K562) cancer cell lines expressed TPO at high level; gastric (AGS, KATO-III), intestinal (LS174T), lung (A549), and cervical (HELA) cancer cell lines expressed TPO at a very low level; TPO gene expression could not be detected in human breast adenocarcinoma (MDA-MB231 and MCF7) and in human microvascular endothelial (HMEC-1) cell lines (Figure 3(a)).