EPO and anemia: Anemia of inflammation is characterized by the overproduction of proinflammatory cytokines including TNF, which has been shown to inhibit the growth and differentiation of erythroid progenitors in the BM (57–59) and inhibit erythropoietin production (60), and IL-1, which also inhibits erythropoietin production (60) and drives HSCs toward myelopoiesis (61).