ArticleCancers2025
Rethinking EPO: A Paradigm Shift in Oncology?
Article in Cancers, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Eosinophils in lung cancer: from inflammatory cytokines to immunotherapeutic biomarkers.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Erythropoietin (EPO) is a hormone mainly produced by the kidney. EPO stimulates red blood cell production in response to hypoxia. EPO represents one of the most compelling paradoxes in medical oncology. For decades, recombinant EPO has been prescribed as an effective therapy for cancer-related anemia and fatigue, significantly improving patients' quality of life while reducing their dependence on blood transfusions. Yet, accumulating scientific evidence knowledge has highlighted the complex interactions between EPO and tumor biology that extend well beyond its hematopoietic functions. The putative expression of EPO receptors on tumor cells has raised concerns about a potential role of EPO in promoting tumor progression, although conclusive clinical evidence remains lacking. Recent studies have revealed that EPO may contribute to immunosuppressive mechanisms within the tumor microenvironment, thereby reshaping our understanding of its risk/benefit profile in oncology. This evolving body of evidence calls for an objective reassessment of EPO's dual nature as both a therapeutic ally and a potential oncological threat, in order to bring more caution around decision-making in the current era of strongly evolving cancer care.
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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.