Key Benefits

• Spot PV by checking if red cells and other counts run high.
• Clarify PV when red cells, platelets, and white cells rise together.
• Explain symptoms like headaches, dizziness, itching, or vision changes from thick blood.
• Guide treatment by targeting hematocrit below 45% to reduce clot risk.
• Refine risk when white cells or platelets are high, raising clots or bleeding.
• Track trends to see treatment response and catch early progression or complications.
• Support pregnancy planning by keeping counts safe and guiding pregnancy‑friendly therapies.
• Best interpreted with JAK2 mutation and erythropoietin levels, plus your symptoms.

What are Polycythemia Vera

Biomarker testing for polycythemia vera shows whether an internal growth switch—not the body’s oxygen or hormone signals—is driving red blood cell overproduction. The central marker is a mutation in the JAK2 gene (JAK2 V617F or exon 12), which locks the marrow’s signaling pathway in the “on” position (constitutive JAK-STAT activation) within a single expanded blood-forming clone (clonal hematopoiesis). Supporting markers reflect that clone’s output, including increased red cell production (erythrocytosis) often alongside changes in white cells and platelets (leukocytosis, thrombocytosis), and characteristic marrow activity (hypercellularity with erythroid predominance). The body’s red cell–stimulating hormone can also be assessed (erythropoietin, EPO) to show whether the drive comes from a hormone signal or the JAK2‑mutant clone. Together, these biomarkers confirm the disease’s identity (myeloproliferative neoplasm), distinguish it from look‑alike causes of higher red cells (secondary erythrocytosis), and provide a genetic “tag” that can be followed over time to understand disease behavior and risk of complications such as clotting (thrombosis).

Why are Polycythemia Vera biomarkers important?

Polycythemia Vera biomarkers are the day-to-day map of how a JAK-STAT–driven marrow disorder is affecting the whole body—oxygen delivery, blood thickness, vessel shear stress, and clotting. Red blood cell count, hemoglobin, hematocrit, platelet count, and white blood cells together describe viscosity, microvascular flow, and inflammatory tone that underlie symptoms and long‑term risks.

In most adults, red cells sit around 4.2–6.1, hemoglobin 12–17.5 (higher in men), hematocrit roughly mid‑30s to low‑50s, platelets 150–400, and white cells 4–10. For general health, “middle of the range” is typically optimal. In PV, these values often drift high. Elevated hemoglobin/hematocrit signal erythrocytosis and thicker blood, slowing flow and raising clot risk; people notice headaches, dizziness, blurred vision, facial flushing, warm‑shower itching, chest discomfort, or burning palms/soles. High platelets can worsen microvascular symptoms and paradoxically cause both clotting and easy bleeding (acquired von Willebrand dysfunction). Higher white cells reflect inflammation and correlate with thrombosis risk; rapid cell turnover can add gout and a tender, enlarged spleen.

When these numbers run low in someone with PV, it may reflect iron deficiency from chronic blood loss, hypersplenism, or evolution toward post‑PV myelofibrosis, bringing fatigue, pallor, bruising, and infections. Women have lower typical hemoglobin/hematocrit than men; in pregnancy, normal hemodilution lowers them further, so “normal” nonpregnant values may be abnormal. PV is rare in children; age‑specific norms apply.

Big picture: PV biomarkers connect marrow genetics to blood rheology, coagulation, and inflammation, forecasting thrombotic events and microvascular symptoms while also flagging disease progression toward myelofibrosis or, rarely, acute leukemia.

What Insights Will I Get?

Polycythemia vera (PV) biomarker testing shows how your blood’s cellular load affects oxygen delivery, blood thickness, and vascular stress—core drivers of energy, cognition, heart and brain risk, and immune tone. At Superpower, we test RBC, Hemoglobin, Hematocrit, Platelet Count, WBC.

RBC is the number of red blood cells; in PV it is typically elevated from bone‑marrow overproduction. Hemoglobin is the oxygen‑carrying protein inside red cells and rises in parallel. Hematocrit is the proportion of blood made up of red cells; it tracks viscosity and is central to PV risk. Platelet Count reflects clot‑forming cells; PV often shows thrombocytosis from the same clonal process. WBC (white blood cells) reflects immune cell mass; PV may include leukocytosis, indicating granulocytic proliferation and low‑grade inflammation.

Together, RBC, Hemoglobin, and Hematocrit indicate the balance between oxygen transport and flow. Adequate levels sustain tissue energy; excessive levels thicken blood, slow microcirculation, and raise thrombotic risk. A stable Platelet Count supports hemostasis; very high counts can increase clotting risk and, paradoxically, bleeding due to functional platelet defects. A well‑regulated WBC count supports immune defense without excess inflammatory activation that can stress the endothelium and circulation.

Notes: Interpretation is influenced by altitude, dehydration or plasma volume shifts, smoking or sleep apnea, recent illness or inflammation, iron deficiency (can mask increased red cell mass), bleeding, pregnancy (hemodilution), age, medications such as androgens or steroids, splenectomy, and assay variability between labs.