Nitric oxide donors suppress erythropoietin production in vitro

Many inflammatory diseases are associated with a hypoproliferative anaemia. Patients with this anaemia often present with serum erythropoietin (EPO) concentrations that are too low for the degree of their anaemia. Proinflammatory cytokines, in addition to their inhibitory effects on proliferation of erythroid progenitors, could contribute to the pathogenesis of this anaemia by reducing EPO production. Because several cytokines stimulate nitric oxide (NO) synthase we propose that nitric oxide might mediate the suppression of EPO production during inflammation. In order to test this hypothesis we investigated the effects of NO donors on 24-h hypoxia-induced EPO production in the hepatocellular carcinoma cell line HepG2. Following application of the NO donors sodium nitroprusside (SNP), 3-morpholinosydnonimine (SIN-1), and S-nitroso-N-acetyl-D,L-penicillamine (SNAP), EPO production was dose-dependently reduced: compared to the untreated control EPO production was lowered by 89% with SNP (1000 microM), by 66% with SIN-1 (1000 microM), and by 72% with SNAP (500 microM). In contrast, 8-bromo-cGMP did not inhibit EPO formation. Since pyrogallol (300 microM) and H2O2 (250 microM) showed a comparable suppression of EPO synthesis, we propose that NO might affect EPO production either by a similar direct influence on the cellular redox state or via increasing the cellular content of reactive oxygen species.