Serum erythropoietin (EST) titers in anemia.

Erythropoietin (ESF) titers were determined in sera from patients with different types of anemia using the fetal mouse liver cell bioassay. An inverse relationship was found between hemoglobin concentration and ESF titer. However, ESF titers differed markedly between patients at comparable degrees of anemia. Several groups of patients were distinguished on the basis of the activity of their erythroid bone marrow. In each of these groups, a significant negative correlation was found between the hemoglobin concentration and the logarithm of the ESF titer. ESF titers in patients with pure red cell aplasia were fourfold higher than those in patients with iron-deficiency anemia and tenfold higher than those in patients with megaloblastic anemia and homozygous sickle cell anemia at comparable hemoglobin concentrations. Following the initiation of specific therapy in patients with pernicious anemia and patients wit iron-deficiency anemia, serum ESF titers were found to decrease prior to any substantial rise in hemoglobin concentrations. In the patients with pernicious anemia, the lowest ESF levels were found 1 day after administration of vitamin B12, whereas in the patients with iron-deficiency anemia, the lowest ESF levels were reached in the second week of oral iron therapy. ON the basis of these data it was concluded that serum ESF titers in anemic patients are not only inversely related to the hemoglobin concentration but also to the activity of the erythroid bone marrow.