EPO and myocardial infarction: Kobayashi et al. [49] confirmed that EPO-DDS induced an increase of both CD31-positive microvessels as well as myocardial VEGF expression, and emphasized the critical role of VEGF (angiogenesis promotor) and Bcl-2 (apoptosis inhibitor) upregulation in the early phase of post-myocardial infarct.