A study has demonstrated that erythropoietin prevents chronic allograft injury via mechanisms beyond anemia correction. In contrast to erythropoietin, blood transfusions did not prevent chronic allograft injury in rats despite normalization of hemoglobin levels. The researchers suggest that the effects of erythropoietin might be mediated by the upregulation of angiogenic and antiapoptotic factors.
ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER
Cassis, P. et al. Erythropoietin, but not the correction of anemia alone, protects from chronic kidney allograft injury. Kidney Int. doi:10.1038/ki.2011.473
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Protective effects of erythropoietin in transplant patients. Nat Rev Nephrol 8, 193 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneph.2012.30
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneph.2012.30