Sytkowski Arthur J
Laboratory for Cell and Molecular Biology, Division of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
Sci STKE. 2007 Jul 17;2007(395):pe38. doi: 10.1126/stke.3952007pe38.
Erythropoietin (Epo) stimulates red blood cell production by docking with its cognate receptor on the erythroid progenitor cell and triggering an array of signaling pathways that inhibit apoptosis and promote cell proliferation and differentiation. In its pharmaceutical forms, epoetin and darbepoetin, Epo is widely used to treat various anemias, including those associated with cancer. The Epo receptor is also expressed by nonhematopoietic cells, including cancer cells, and Epo exhibits a "tissue-protective" effect on nonhematopoietic tissues, possibly mediated through a novel heteroreceptor, blocking apoptosis induced by a variety of insults. The unexpected results of several clinical studies in which Epo was used to treat cancer patients have now raised the question of a potential direct growth-promoting action of Epo on cancer cells.
促红细胞生成素（Epo）通过与红系祖细胞上的同源受体结合，触发一系列抑制细胞凋亡、促进细胞增殖和分化的信号通路，从而刺激红细胞生成。以促红细胞生成素和达比加群酯等药物形式存在的Epo，被广泛用于治疗各种贫血，包括与癌症相关的贫血。促红细胞生成素受体也在包括癌细胞在内的非造血细胞中表达，并且Epo对非造血组织表现出“组织保护”作用，可能是通过一种新型异源受体介导的，可阻断多种损伤诱导的细胞凋亡。几项使用Epo治疗癌症患者的临床研究得出了意想不到的结果，这就提出了Epo对癌细胞可能具有直接促生长作用的问题。
