Erythropoietin (EPO) exhibits diverse cellular functions, including neurotrophic, anti-oxidant, anti-apoptotic, and anti-inflammatory effects in non-hematopoietic tissues. This study evaluated whether bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) transduced with the EPO gene (EPO-MSCs) promoted neural cell survival and improved neurological deficits caused by ischemic stroke. EPO-MSCs stably pro...

BACKGROUND The reports of lower plasma erythropoietin (EPO) in anemic patients with active erythropoiesis (hyperplastic) than in comparably anemic subjects with erythroid hypoplasia have generally been interpreted as the result of EPO utilization by the target cells of the hormone. An alternative explanation could be that there is a feedback mechanism through which EPO formation by EPO-producin...

The involvement of a humoral factor (named as haemopoietin) in the regulation of haematopoiesis, was firstly described in literature in 1906 (Carnot  Deflandre, 1906). However, only 40 years later a linkage between erythropoietin (EPO) and erythropoiesis was described (Bondsdorff  Jalavisto, 1948), and only in the 1950s was established that the kidney is the main site of production of EPO (Ja...

Full correction of anemia with recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEPO) has been reported to reduce the risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality and improve the quality of life in hemodialysis (HD) patients. Effects of normalization of hematocrit on cerebral blood flow and oxygen metabolism were investigated by positron emission tomography. Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF), cerebral bl...

Erythropoietin (EPO) is an important regulator of the production red blood cells, and cloning of the gene led to the development of recombinant human EPO preparation, rhEPO. EPO caught the public eye when some leading athletes started to take it to increase the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood and, thereby, to achieve enhanced athletic performance. Thus, they were conveniently able to achi...

Background Apart from its hematopoietic effect, erythropoietin (EPO) is a molecule with high neuroprotective potential. However, its prolonged application may cause serious adverse effects due to the erythropoiesis stimulation. Therefore, an EPO derivative with neuroprotective properties but low hematopoietic activity, designated as neuropoietin (rhNEPO), was developed in our lab using an alter...

A large group of hereditary spherocytosis (HS) patients manifest the clinical signs of this condition during the neonatal period and most of them require transfusions. The authors describe a clinical case of a neonate that was transfused. They demonstrated that the splenectomized mother had an HS due to a de novo mutation of one ankyrin allele. By means of this molecular approach, they were abl...