Objective: To analyze the genes related to platelet activation in essential thrombocythemia (ET) based on transcriptome sequencing technology (RNA-seq), and to explore the potential targets related to ET thrombosis.

Methods: Blood samples from ET patients and healthy individuals were collected for RNA-seq, and differentially expressed lncRNAs, miRNAs, and mRNAs were selected to construct a lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA regulatory network. Differential mRNAs in the regulatory network were enriched and analyzed using Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG). The real-time PCR method was applied to validate differential mRNAs on crucial signaling pathways.

Results: A total of 32 lncRNAs (3 up-regulated, 29 down-regulated), 16 miRNAs (8 up-regulated, 8 down-regulated), and 35 mRNAs (27 up-regulated, 8 down-regulated) were identified as differentially expressed. Among them, 5 lncRNAs, 12 miRNAs, and 19 mRNAs constituted the regulatory network. KEGG enrichment analysis showed that the differential mRNAs were related to the platelet activation signaling pathway, and there were 6 differential mRNAs related to platelet activation, namely F2R, ITGA2B, ITGB1, ITGB3, PTGS1, and GP1BB, which were all up-regulated in their expression. RT-PCR results showed that the expression of five mRNAs including F2R,ITGA2B,ITGB1,ITGB3, and GP1BB were upregulated in ET patients compared with healthy subjects, and consistent with RNA-seq results, while PTGS1 expression was not significantly different.

Conclusions: Differential mRNAs in ET patients are related to the platelet activation pathway, and F2R, ITGA2B, ITGB1, ITGB3, and GP1BB mRNAs may serve as novel targets associated with platelet activation in ET.