Stem Cells, Vol 11, 428-434, Copyright © 1993 by AlphaMed Press
Burst-promoting activity in the serum of patients with chronic renal failure undergoing long-term hemodialysis
G Randall, J Meyer, C Swanepoel and P Jacobs
University of Cape Town Leukaemia Centre, Department of Haematology, South Africa.
Anemia in patients with chronic renal failure (CRF) is multifactorial, and
while the majority will respond to the paternal administration of
recombinant human erythropoietin (r-HuEPO), a role for coexistent plasma
inhibitors and stimulators, such as burst-promoting activity (BPA), remains
controversial. To evaluate the latter possibility, eight individuals with
CRF on long-term hemodialysis, were studied before (mean hemoglobin 58.4
+/- 8.0 g/l and after 12 weeks of r-HuEPO therapy (mean hemoglobin 100.4
+/- 18.3 g/l). In vitro erythroid cultures using erythroid burst forming
unit (BFU-E) and erythroid colony forming unit (CFU-E) assays were
performed, plating 5 x 10(4) bone marrow mononuclear cells and comparing
growth in heat-inactivated autologous serum with AB serum. Using Step III
sheep erythropoietin (Connaught Laboratories, Willowdale, Ontario, Canada)
(n = 4), mean BFU-E pre- therapy were 89.7 +/- 75.1, CFU-E were 418.5 +/-
150.6, whereas the corresponding figures in AB serum were 2.5 +/- 2.9 and
197 +/- 94.19, p = 0.1, p = 0.01, respectively. Similarly, with r-HuEPO
(EPOCONN: Connaught Laboratories, Willowdale, Ontario, Canada) (n = 4),
mean BFU- E were 145.25 +/- 103.3 in autologous serum and 31.0 +/- 56.75 in
AB serum (p = 0.04). As controls, erythroid progenitors from two normal
donors yielded 69 and 61 BFU-E colonies in autologous serum and 103 and 42
in AB serum; the corresponding CFU-E were 52 and 235 versus 136 and
137.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
