EPO and cancer: HIV infection may lead to anemia in many ways: changes in cytokine production with subsequent effects on hematopoiesis [20] decreased erythropoietin concentrations [21], opportunistic agents such as Mycobacterium avium complex [22], administration of chemotherapeutic agents such as zidovudine, ganciclovir [23] and cotrimoxazole [24] and myelophthisis caused by cancers such as lymphosarcoma.