Erythropoietin: current status.

Erythropoietin: Current Status

Recombinant human erythropoietin in oncology: current status and further developments.

Anaemia effects up to 90% of cancer patients, with more than 60% requiring blood transfusion during or after treatment. With the advent of recombinant human erythropoietins (rHuEPO), an alternative to red blood cell transfusion has become available. So far, three drugs have been approved for the treatment of anaemia in patients with malignancies (epoetin alfa, epoetin beta and darbepoetin alfa)...

Low Hepcidin Levels in Severely Anemic Malawian Children with High Incidence of Infectious Diseases and Bone Marrow Iron Deficiency

INTRODUCTION A reliable diagnostic biomarker of iron status is required for severely anemic children living in malarious areas because presumptive treatment with iron may increase their infection risk if they are not iron deficient. Current biomarkers are limited because they are altered by host inflammation. In this study hepcidin concentrations were assessed in severely anemic children living...

The effect of erythropoietin on blood parameters in thalassemia intermedia patients

Background: β-thalassemia is the most common hereditary disease in Iran, and more than 2 million carriers of β-thalassemia live in Iran. On the other hand, our country is located in the thalassemia belt, and no comprehensive study has been conducted regarding the effect of erythropoietin on blood parameters in thalassemia intermedia patients in our region. Therefore this study aimed to investig...

The 2008 WHO diagnostic criteria for polycythemia vera, essential thrombocythemia, and primary myelofibrosis.

Several international working groups cooperated to propose new diagnostic guidelines for polycythemia vera (PV), essential thrombocythemia (ET), and primary myelofibrosis (PMF) to the steering committee of the World Health Organization. Because JAK2 mutation status presents a decisive diagnostic test in PV, this feature was introduced as a major criterion. Minor criteria, such as characteristic...