Erythropoietin (EPO) is known to be a body-own hormone which is
produced depending on the oxygen partial pressure in the blood by fibroblasts
of the kidney parenchyma and controls the differentiation of the erythrocytes
in the bone marrow.
The need for the existence of such a hormone had been postulated
more than a century ago. But only a good half-century ago (1953) the
glycoprotein could be isolated and its erythropoietic effect proved. After more
than a quarter of a century genetic modification of hamster cells succeeded in
producing recombinant human EPO. Thus, there was nothing in the way of a
large-scale industrial, pharmaceutical production. Now, for almost three
decades, EPO has become an indispensable part of the clinical routine, for
example, in the case of anemias of terminal renal failure, tumor-induced anaemias
and pre-blood donation. In this respect, it is important to note that the
erythropoietic effects are generally observed only after a certain dosis and
secondly in repeated applications of systemically administered EPO.
The first work on the non-erythropoietic effects of EPO was
published around the turn of the Millennium. Since then, our understanding of
EPO has been changing. In the meantime, a number of works have already
demonstrated that EPO plays a role in responding to acute and chronic tissue
damage. It was shown in several rodent models that EPO is synthesized in a
variety of tissues in the acute phase after trauma. There, it inhibits the
initial inflammatory reaction and thereby facilitates the healing and thus the
“Restitutio ad Integrity”.
No comments:
Post a Comment