Darbepoietin-alfa has comparable erythropoietic stimulatory effects to recombinant erythropoietin whilst preserving the bone marrow microenvironment

Abstract

Erythropoiesis stimulating agents are widely used for the treatment of anemia. Recently, we reported erythroid expansion with impaired B lymphopoiesis and loss of trabecular bone in C57BL/6 mice following ten days of treatment with low-dose short acting recombinant human erythropoietin. We have assessed erythropoietin against longer-acting darbepoietin-alfa at a comparable erythroid stimulatory dosage regime. Darbepoietin-alfa and erythropoietin induced similar in vivo erythropoietic expansion. Both agents induced an expansion of the colonyforming unit-erythroid populations. However, unlike erythropoietin, darbepoietin-alfa did not impair bone marrow B lymphopoiesis. Strikingly the bone loss..