THE INFLUENCE OF RECOMBINANT-HUMAN-ERYTHROPOIETIN ON TUMOR-NECROSIS-FACTOR-ALPHA AND INTERLEUKIN-10 PRODUCTION BY WHOLE-BLOOD CELL-CULTURESIN HEMODIALYSIS-PATIENTS

Impaired immunological response in hemodialysis (HD) patients, which l eads to inappropriate cytokine production, is partially caused by the hyperstimulation of both T lymphocytes and monocytes/macrophages. Rece nt data suggest that human recombinant erythropoietin (rhEPO) may have an immunological action. The goal of our study was to estimate the in fluence of rhEPO treatment on the production of the inflammatory cytok ine tumor necrosis factor ct (TNF alpha) and antiinflammatory cytokin interleukin-10 (IL-10) in 10 HD patients receiving rhEPO for 6 months. The levels of cytokines were measured in the in vitro cultures of who le blood. The lever of IL-10 increased in all treated patients during the therapy, and it was accompanied by a transitory decrease of TNF al pha. The results of our studies suggest that rhEPO may reduce the infl ammatory process by decreasing production of TNF alpha and increasing production of IL-10.