Somatic mutations in the calreticulin (CALR) gene were recently discovered in patients with sporadic essential thrombocythemia (ET) and primary myelofibrosis (PMF) lacking JAK2 and MPL mutations. We studied CALR mutation status in familial cases of myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN). In a cohort of 127 patients, CALR indels were identified in 6 of 55 (11%) subjects with ET and in 6 of 20 (30%) with PMF, while 52 cases of polycythemia vera (PV) had nonmutated CALR. All CALR mutations were somatic, found in granulocytes but not in T lymphocytes. Patients with CALR mutated ET showed a higher platelet count (P=0.017), and a lower cumulative incidence of thrombosis (P=0.036) and of disease progression (P=0.047) compared to those with JAK2(V617F). In conclusion, a significant proportion of familial ET and PMF nonmutated for JAK2 carry a somatic mutation of CALR.