Antibody-Mediated Pure Red Cell Aplasia Due to Epoetin Alfa During Antiviral Therapy of Chronic Hepatitis C

• Published in: The American journal of gastroenterology Vol. 100; no. 6; pp. 1415 - 1419
• Main Authors: STRAVITZ, R. Todd, CHUNG, Harold, STERLING, Richard K, LUKETIC, Velimir A, SANYAL, Arun J, PRICE, Angie S, PURRINGTON, Amy, SHIFFMAN, Mitchell L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Blackwell Publishing 01.06.2005; Wolters Kluwer Health Medical Research, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
• Subjects: Antibiotics. Antiinfectious agents. Antiparasitic agents; Antibodies - immunology; Antiviral agents; Biological and medical sciences; Danazol - therapeutic use; Drug Hypersensitivity - immunology; Epoetin Alfa; Erythropoietin - adverse effects; Erythropoietin - blood; Erythropoietin - immunology; Erythropoietin - therapeutic use; Estrogen Antagonists - therapeutic use; Follow-Up Studies; Gastroenterology; Hematinics - adverse effects; Hematinics - immunology; Hematinics - therapeutic use; Hepatitis C, Chronic - blood; Hepatitis C, Chronic - drug therapy; Human viral diseases; Humans; Infectious diseases; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Radioimmunoprecipitation Assay; Recombinant Proteins; Red-Cell Aplasia, Pure - chemically induced; Red-Cell Aplasia, Pure - drug therapy; Red-Cell Aplasia, Pure - immunology; Viral diseases; Viral diseases of the digestive system; Viral hepatitis; Antibody; Aplastic anemia; Hepatic disease; Hemopathy; Epoetin alfa; Antianemia agent; Erythroblast; Infection; Treatment; Viral disease; Digestive diseases; Antiviral; Pure red cell aplasia; Viral hepatitis C
• ISSN: 0002-9270; 1572-0241
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1572-0241.2005.41910.x

Anemia frequently complicates the treatment of chronic hepatitis C with interferon and ribavirin (RVN), requiring dose reduction and jeopardizing sustained virologic response. Increasingly, epoetin alfa is used to prevent anemia in this setting. Below, we report the first case of pure red cell aplasia (PRCA) in a patient with chronic hepatitis C who received epoetin alfa (Procrit) to manage anti-viral treatment-induced anemia. Red blood cell transfusion-dependence developed 16 wk after the patient was started on peginterferon alfa-2b and RVN for chronic hepatitis C despite the simultaneous administration of epoetin alfa and subsequent discontinuation of the antiviral medications. Bone marrow biopsy was consistent with PRCA. High-titer erythropoietin antibodies, assayed by two methods, appeared shortly after epoetin alfa was administered, and were associated with a decline in serum erythropoietin to undetectable levels. Erythropoietin antibodies directed toward epoetin alfa were shown to cross react with darbepoetin alfa (Aranesp), and a neutralization assay confirmed that they inhibited cell growth in the presence of erythropoietin. Transfusion-dependence resolved approximately 16 wk after discontinuing epoetin alfa, and 6 wk after starting danazol. PRCA caused by the development of erythropoietin antibodies is a potentially life-threatening complication of administering epoetin alfa to prevent the anemia associated with antiviral therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis C.