Erythropoietin: Functions and Therapeutic Potential

Abstract

Erythropoietin (EPO) exerts its effect on erythroid cells through interaction with the EPO receptor (EPOR), the so-called “canonical pathway,” and through a complex consisting of EPOR and the common cytokine receptor β subunit (CD131)—a noncanonical pathway for non-hematopoietic cells of the bodies of human beings and animals. The effect of EPO is realized through the initiation of a signaling cascade, which begins with phosphorylation of Janus kinase 2 (JAK2) and extends with the involvement of phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase B (PI3K), Ras-mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), or signal transducers and activators of transcription (STAT). EPO exerts a direct cytoprotective effect through increased expression of CD131 with subsequent antiapoptotic and anti-inflammatory effects in target cells. In addition to its use in the treatment of anemia, EPO is increasingly used in the correction of inflammatory and degenerative processes in both experimental and clinical cell-mediated studies. EPO promotes the engraftment of stem cells and differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells in the connective tissue direction, suppressing the inflammatory response and apoptosis of cells in the lesion. The article includes literature data regarding EPO and its clinical use in inflammatory–degenerative processes based on eLibrary and National Center for Biotechnology Information data from 1998 to 2022.