Although the effectiveness of EPO in MS is unclear and recent clinical trials have not shown an efficacy (Schreiber et al., 2017), research is still active on EPO mimetics or derivatives with different biological properties (Culver et al., 2017; Bonnas et al., 2017); clinical trials with EPO in optic neuritis are ongoing after positive indications from phase 2 trials (Suhs et al., 2012; Diem et al., 2016) and its use to improve traumatic brain injury is still open (Counter et al., 1994). The gene discussed is EPO; the disease is injury.