Evidence map›Paper›PMID 17033631›Full record

Trial reportMolecular psychiatry2007

Improvement of cognitive functions in chronic schizophrenic patients by recombinant human erythropoietin.

H Ehrenreich, D Hinze-Selch, S Stawicki, C Aust, S Knolle-Veentjer, S Wilms, G Heinz, S Erdag, H Jahn, D Degner and 15 more

Registry-linked trialAbstract readClinical Trial, Phase IIMulticenter StudyRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Molecular psychiatry, 2007. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT00604630 (German Multicenter EPO Stroke Trial), which is not on this map. Cited by 90 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
90citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
7.8field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT00604630 phase2 / phase3completednot on this map

German Multicenter EPO Stroke Trial (Phase II/III)

TypeinterventionalSponsorMax-Planck-Institute of Experimental MedicineRan2003 to 2008Enrolled522ConditionsInfarction, Middle Cerebral Artery, Middle Cerebral Artery Stroke, Stroke, AcuteArmsrecombinant human erythropoietin alfa, 0.9% NaCl
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

90 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 259 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Calcium channel blockers for antipsychotic-induced tardive dyskinesia.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2018
    Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Erythropoietin monotherapy in perinatal asphyxia with moderate to severe encephalopathy: a randomized placebo-controlled trial.Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2017
    Trial
  5. Trial
  6. Recombinant human erythropoietin for treating treatment-resistant depression: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled phase 2 trial.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2014
    Trial
  7. Trial
  8. Trial
  9. Trial
  10. Trial
  11. Trial
  12. Trial
  13. Trial
  14. Erythropoietin enhances hippocampal response during memory retrieval in humans.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2007
    Trial
  15. Memory in Psychiatric Disorders: A Review.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025
    Review
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Erythropoietin and Erythropoietin Receptor Levels and Their Diagnostic Values in Drug-naïve Patients with Generalized Anxiety Disorder.Clinical psychopharmacology and neuroscience : the official scientific journal of the Korean College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2023
    Article

30 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

25 authors at 10 institutions in 1 country.

H EhrenreichDivision of Clinical Neuroscience, Max-Planck-Institute of Experimental Medicine, Göttingen, Germany. ehrenreich@em.mpg.de
D Hinze-Selch
S Stawicki
C Aust
S Knolle-Veentjer
S Wilms
G Heinz
S Erdag
H Jahn
D Degner
M Ritzen
A Mohr
M Wagner
U Schneider
M Bohn
M Huber
A Czernik
T Pollmächer
W Maier
A-L Sirén
J Klosterkötter
P Falkai
E Rüther
J B Aldenhoff
H Krampe
Kiel University · DEUniversity of Göttingen · DEMax Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine · DEMax Planck Society · DESaarland University · DEUniversity of Bonn · DEKlinikum Ingolstadt · DEMedizinische Hochschule Hannover · DEPhilipps University of Marburg · DETheologische Fakultät Fulda · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Schizophrenia is increasingly recognized as a neurodevelopmental disease with an additional degenerative component, comprising cognitive decline and loss of cortical gray matter. We hypothesized that a neuroprotective/neurotrophic add-on strategy, recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEPO) in addition to stable antipsychotic medication, may be able to improve cognitive function even in chronic schizophrenic patients. Therefore, we designed a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized, multicenter, proof-of-principle (phase II) study. This study had a total duration of 2 years and an individual duration of 12 weeks with an additional safety visit at 16 weeks. Chronic schizophrenic men (N=39) with defined cognitive deficit (>or=1 s.d. below normal in the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS)), stable medication and disease state, were treated for 3 months with a weekly short (15 min) intravenous infusion of 40,000 IU rhEPO (N=20) or placebo (N=19). Main outcome measure was schizophrenia-relevant cognitive function at week 12. The neuropsychological test set (RBANS subtests delayed memory, language-semantic fluency, attention and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST-64) - perseverative errors) was applied over 2 days at baseline, 2 weeks, 4 weeks and 12 weeks of study participation. Both placebo and rhEPO patients improved in all evaluated categories. Patients receiving rhEPO showed a significant improvement over placebo patients in schizophrenia-related cognitive performance (RBANS subtests, WCST-64), but no effects on psychopathology or social functioning. Also, a significant decline in serum levels of S100B, a glial damage marker, occurred upon rhEPO. The fact that rhEPO is the first compound to exert a selective and lasting beneficial effect on cognition should encourage new treatment strategies for schizophrenia.

Indexed as

AdultChronic DiseaseCognitionCognition DisordersErythropoietinFollow-Up StudiesHumansMaleMiddle AgedNerve Growth FactorsNeuronal PlasticityPlacebo EffectRecombinant ProteinsS100 Calcium Binding Protein beta SubunitS100 ProteinsSchizophreniaErythropoietinNerve Growth FactorsRecombinant ProteinsS100B protein, humanS100 Calcium Binding Protein beta SubunitS100 Proteins

Identifiers

PMID17033631
OpenAlexW2111144499

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.