engleski

Human recombinant erythropoietin (rhEPO) - physiology and biochemistry

Erythropoietin (EPO) is a glycoprotein hormone which is required for maintenance, proliferation and differentiation of the stem cells that produce erythrocytes. It is a member of cytokine family, a group of proteins involved in regulation of cell growth and differentiation. For clinical treatment, instead of the human EPO isolated and purified from urine of aplastic anaemia patients (called urinary EPO or uhEPO), recombinant human EPO (rhEPO) has been developed and clinically used. Recombinant hEPO may be misused by athletes (by intravenous or subcutaneous administration) in aerobic sports for purpose of increasing oxygen transport and aerobic power. This presentation is an effort to summarise data on the effects of administration of rhEPO and other cytokines (ET-1 and ANP) on their function, possible misuse, and the effects of other pharmacological agents on function of the cytokines. Only those properties will be discussed which may be relevant to possible abuse of the cytokines by athletes and/or their detection. For instance, discussed will be the effects of rhEPO administration on blood concentration and induction pattern of endothelin-1 (ET-1) and atrial natriuretic peptide hormone (ANP) as well as the effects of ET-1 and ANP on the erythropoiesis. Also presented will be the properties of newly synthesised small peptide EMP1 (2 kDa peptide) that mimics and retains full biological activity of EPO both in vivo and in vitro.

human recombinant erythropoietin; sport; physiology; biochemistry; structure; misuse

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