Effect of human recombinant erythropoietin on human hemopoietic progenitor cells in vitro.

Recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEpo), now available, might become increasingly more important for clinical use, e.g., in the treatment of anemia of chronic renal failure. As a prerequisite of clinical trials, we analyzed the stimulatory and suppressive effects of rhEpo on human hemopoiesis by adding rhEpo to in vitro cultures of nonadherent low-density bone marrow cells obtained from normal persons and from patients undergoing hemodialysis for chronic renal failure. rhEpo was shown to be an effective stimulus for erythroid and multilineage colony formation. The dose-response curve was similar for erythroid progenitors BFU-E from normal controls and patients with chronic renal failure. rhEpo had no effect on megakaryocytic colony formation nor on the megakaryocytic differentiation of multilineage stem cells. Because of a good stimulatory activity on erythroid and multilineage stem cells and lack of toxic effects, rhEpo might be useful in the treatment of certain kinds of anemia.