Summary
Erythropoietin has shown to be effective in the correction of the hemostatic defect
present in uremic patients. We have investigated the possible effect of recombinant
human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) on the signaling processes occurring in platelets. Platelet
suspensions were obtained from hemodialyzed patients before and after at least one
month of initiating treatment with rHuEPO. Aliquots of non-activated or thrombin-activated
platelets were treated to obtain platelet lysates or processed to extract platelet
cytoskeleton. Samples were resolved by 8% SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis followed
by Western blotting. After thrombin activation, proteins p120, p85, p78, p75, pp62,
pp60, p59, p58, p56, p54 and p52 associated with the Triton-insoluble cytoskeletal
fraction appeared phosphorylated in control profiles. In profiles from platelets obtained
from uremic patients before treatment with rHuEPO, only proteins p58 and p56 appeared
clearly and p54 was slightly phosphorylated. However, in platelets from the same patients
under rHuEPO treatment, thrombin-induced phosphorylation improved to levels even above
those observed in control profiles. Specially, the band at 54KDa appeared consistently
more phosphorylated in all the patients under rHuEPO treatment. Although it is accepted
that part of the hemostatic effect of erythropoietin is mediated by an increase in
hematocrit, our study suggests that it enhances platelet signaling in uremic platelets
which may explain the improvement of platelet response to activating stimulus before
clinically noticeable elevation of hematocrit.
Abbrevations: rHuEPO = recombinant human erythropoietin; SDS-PAGE = sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide
gel electrophoresis; CPD = citrate/phosphate/dextrose; PRP = platelet-rich plasma;
HBSS = Hanks’ balanced salt solution; EGTA = ethylene glycol bis (β-aminoethylether)-N,N,N’,N’-tetraacetic
acid; EDTA = ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, PMSF = phenylmethylsulphonyl fluoride,
ECL = enhanced chemiluminiscence