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Updated: Jul 18, 2026

A Comprehensive Pipeline to Assess the Efficiency of Human Erythropoiesis In Vitro and Ex Vivo
Published on: January 10, 2025
[Study on serum erythropoietin levels in patients with hematologic malignancies]
Bing Han1, Yuan-kai Shi, Jun Zhu
1Department of Hematology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing, China.
Objective:
To study whether hematologic malignancy patients with anemia have a lower erythropoietin (EPO) response.
Methods:
Serum EPO levels were detected by ELISA in patients with hematologic malignancies and with iron deficiency anemia (IDA). Eighty patients with hematologic malignancies, including 13 multiple myeloma (MM), 7 chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and 60 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) were studied. Thirty of them had anemia(21 NHL,6 MM and 3 CLL). Twenty patients with IDA were studied as the control.
Results:
Hematologic malignancy patients with anemia had higher EPO levels [(97.8 +/- 183.9) IU/L] than those with normal Hb values [(27.8 +/- 85.4) IU/L; P <0.01]. In patients with IDA, serum EPO response was inversely correlated with Hb level (r= -0.5, P <0.05) , but no such inverse correlation was found in the hematologic malignancy patients with anemia (r = -0.14). After corrected for Hb level, the serum EPO levels were significantly lower in anemic patients with hematologic malignancies than in IDA patients (P = 0.032) , indicating a decreased EPO response in the former group.
Conclusion:
Anemia associated with hematologic malignancy might result from an inappropriately low EPO response. EPO treatment for these patients may be beneficial.
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