EPO and neoplasm: As indicated in the RT-PCR analyses, the expression of EPO mRNA progressively increased up to 24.7 ± 9.9-fold reaching a maximum at week 18 and 16.1 ± 3.5 in the isolated CC (extracted tumor tissue) from 18 weeks TAA-treated livers (*P ≤ 0.05) (Fig. 1a).