Amphotericin B blunts erythropoietin response to anemia
Article Abstract:
Amphotericin B is an antibiotic used to treat fungal infections. It is known to cause anemia, a reduction in the amount of circulating red blood cells. The anemia is thought to result from effects either on the cell-producing bone marrow or on kidney cells that produce a hormone, erythropoietin, which stimulates cell production by bone marrow. The effects of amphotericin B treatment on red blood cell function (including levels of hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying protein) and erythropoietin levels in three patients were compared to those of another antifungal compound in three control patients. Anemia resulted in the amphotericin B-treated patients, which was expected to cause erythropoietin levels to increase. Instead, erythropoietin levels dropped or were stable until termination of antibiotic, after which the levels increased in one patient, as did hemoglobin levels. Erythropoietin levels in control patients were somewhat variable, and hemoglobin levels did not drop appreciably during treatment. Treatment of patients using amphotericin B with recombinant erythropoietin may alleviate some of the anemia observed in these patients. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)
Publication Name: Journal of Infectious Diseases
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0022-1899
Year: 1990
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
Myelostimulatory activity of recombinant human interleukin-2 in mice
Article Abstract:
A bone marrow stimulating factor, interleukin-2 (IL-2), artificially produced by human recombinant genetic techniques, can affect the bone marrow of experimentally manipulated mice. When normal mice are given IL-2, bone marrow production rises sharply, as evidenced by the increase in the frequency of colony-forming units-culture in bone marrow. The survival of mice either exposed to strong levels of radiation or given a powerful chemotherapeutic drug to kill bone marrow cells was prolonged. The investigation shows that multiple mechanisms are involved in both the observed effects on the immune system and the direct stimulation of the bone marrow by the use of IL-2. The combination of IL-2 together with antitumor drugs (which act to destroy or decrease the marrow) and/or chemotherapy is proposed as a possible means of both directly stimulating the marrow and allowing a better response to treatment.
Publication Name: Blood
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0006-4971
Year: 1989
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
- Abstracts: Erythropoietin: Treating severe anemia. Anemia: it's more than just too little iron. Anemia: a blood condition with many causes
- Abstracts: Thyroid gland: US in patients with Hodgkin disease treated with radiation therapy in childhood. Nonneoplastic hematopoietic myeloproliferative syndrome induced by dysregulated multi-CSF (IL-3) expression
- Abstracts: Liposomal hamycin: reduced toxicity and improved antifungal efficacy in vitro and in vivo. The activation of the contact phase of coagulation by physiologic surfaces in plasma: the effect of large negatively charged liposomal vesicles
- Abstracts: Erythroid colony growth from peripheral blood and bone marrow in polycythaemia. Prolonged defects of interleukin-2 production, responsiveness, and receptor expression in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia