Biomedical Letters

Recent Understanding of Erythropoietin and Retinopathy of prematurity

Shree Ram Prasad Shah 1, Jiang Li 1*, Qian Li Juan 1, Han Ji Nan 1, Swastik Bimb 2

1 Department of Pediatrics, Zhongda Hospital, South East University, Nanjing 210009, P.R.China

2 Sumeru Hospital, Lalitpur 44703, Nepal

Abstract

Erythropoietin (EPO) is a glycoprotein hormone which is produced by specialized cells in the kidney that induces hematopoietic stem cells of bone marrow and controls erythropoiesis. It acts in proliferative diabetic retinopathy independently of vascular endothelial growth factor as retinal angiogenesis. Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a serious disease associated with the vasoproliferative disorder which becomes clinically important mainly in extremely premature infant. ROP is considered one of the leading preventable vision threatening disorders among low birth weight babies worldwide. As pre-term infants usually have been treated with erythropoietin for prevention of anemia so they are at greater risk for development of retinopathy of prematurity. Presently about 10% of births occur pre-term worldwide. Regarding the pathogenesis of ROP most of them are based on animal model so, the research findings are not 100% applicable to humans. Before reports suggest that treatment with EPO increase the risk factor of ROP. Some observation reports that development of ROP would be affected by dose, timing and administration of EPO. Meanwhile, some reports suggest statistical significance that EPO is one of the independent risk factor. Some recent study have come with the relationship between EPO and ROP .Growing body of evidences focus that pre-term are at increased risk of severe ROP. However, studies focusing on effect of EPO on ROP over time have painted an inconsistent picture. We have tried to integrate the studies, which have been done in past and present, to identify the relationship between EPO and ROP.

Keywords: Retinopathy of prematurity, erythropoietin, dose, relationship, low birth weight, retinal angiogenesis.

Received November 21, 2015 Revised December 19, 2015 Accepted January 9, 2016

*Correspondence: Jiang Li Email: jiangli77777@126.com Contact: +86-13951086471