EPO and chronic hepatitis C virus infection: There may be several possible mechanisms of lower prohepcidin levels in dialysis patients with hepatitis C; 1) the down-regulation of hepcidin transcription by HCV induced reactive oxygen species, 2) impaired induction of hepcidin by IL-6 in the setting of chronic hepatitis C and 3) the down-regulation of hepcidin expression by erythropoietin via inhibiting hepcidin transcription in liver cells[7,8,17].