# Erythropoietin receptor (EPOR)

Source: https://onco.cc/targets/epor/  
OnCo record `epor` (Target). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

The receptor that tells the marrow to make red blood cells. Epoetin stimulates it to treat chemotherapy-induced anaemia, used with care because it can raise the risk of blood clots and, in some cancers, tumour growth.

## Summary

Erythropoietin from the kidney binds EPOR on erythroid progenitors and signals through JAK2 and STAT5 to drive red cell production. Recombinant epoetin alfa and darbepoetin alfa raise haemoglobin and reduce transfusions in patients with chemotherapy-induced anaemia, but trials showed shorter survival and more thromboembolism when they were used to target normal haemoglobin levels or given outside chemotherapy, leading to restricted labels and a risk management programme in the United States. They are now used at the lowest dose that avoids transfusion, in patients on palliative-intent chemotherapy.

## Fields

- Kind: Target
- Last checked: 2026-09-04
- Symbol: EPOR
- Class: other
- Biology: Cytokine receptor on erythroid progenitors signalling through JAK2 and STAT5; agonised by recombinant erythropoiesis-stimulating agents.
- Where found: Supportive care: chemotherapy-induced anaemia; Expressed on some tumour cells, the basis of the safety concern

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erythropoietin_receptor
- UniProt P19235: EPOR: https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/P19235/entry

## Connected records

- targets: [JAK2](https://onco.cc/targets/jak2/)
- drugs: [Darbepoetin alfa](https://onco.cc/drugs/darbepoetin-alfa/), [Epoetin alfa](https://onco.cc/drugs/epoetin-alfa/), [Epoetin theta](https://onco.cc/drugs/epoetin-theta/)
- terms: [Anaemia](https://onco.cc/terms/anaemia/)
- cancers: [Philadelphia chromosome-like acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (Ph-like or BCR::ABL1-like ALL)](https://onco.cc/cancers/all-ph-like/)
- key papers: [Epoetin theta with a new dosing schedule in anaemic cancer patients receiving nonplatinum-based chemotherapy: a randomised controlled trial (XM01-22)](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-xm01-22-tjulandin-arch-drug-inf-2011/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/epor.json