Oscillations of platelet count, plasma TPO, and trilineage-specific genes. (A) Reciprocal platelet count and plasma TPO oscillations in CT1 and CT2. CT2 received a platelet transfusion on day 2 (green arrow). TPO levels were measured in platelet-poor plasma by Quantikine ELISA (R&D Systems). (B) Venn diagram of the number of genes quantitatively associated with platelet count changes in both patients and gene list of the 3 lineage-specific groups. (C) Heatmap of the 151 platelet-specific (Plt-specific), the 19 erythrocyte-specific (Ery-specific), and the 7 immature neutrophil-specific (Neut-specific) genes displaying their longitudinal expression patterns over 2 platelet cycles for each patient. Using Cluster 3.0, the expression levels of individual genes were mean-centered across all time points and log-transferred for heatmaps, which were visualized using Java TreeView (Version 1.1.6r4) and color-scaled into yellow (high expression) to blue (low expression) or gray (below detection limit). (D) Quantification of the heatmap by showing the median levels of each gene group at every time point to illustrate their longitudinal patterns. (E) The median expression levels (in transcripts per million [TPM]) of the 34 platelet-specific genes that showed the highest fold changes in relation with platelet count and TPO oscillations. These platelet-specific genes are in parallel with and leading platelet count by 3 to 4 days in both patients. Together, they mirror the TPO oscillations. ELISA, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.