ROLES FOR ERYTHROPOIETIN IN THE
BRAIN
New
evidence indicates that erythropoietin prevents the destruction of tissue
surrounding the site of a brain injury (Michael
Brines and Anthony Cerami, Emerging biological roles for erythropoietin in the
nervous system. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 6, 484-494, 2005).
This function is possible by signalling through a non-haematopoietic receptor.
Engineered derivatives of erythropoietin that have a high affinity for this
receptor have been developed, and these show robust tissue-protective effects
in different pre-clinical models without stimulating erythropoiesis. A recent
successful clinical trials that used erythropoietin to treat patients who had
suffered a stroke, encourages the evaluation of both this cytokine and
non-erythropoietic derivatives as drugs to treat tissue injury.
Erythropoietin
mediates an evolutionarily conserved, ancient immune response that limits
damage to the heart, the nervous system and other tissues following injury.