EPO and malignant colon neoplasm: In the hypoxic microenvironment, colon cancer cells undergo a series of biochemical changes in response to hypoxia, including enhanced anaerobic glycolysis and increased protective stress proteins, which include specific cytokines and growth factors, such as erythropoietin, VEGF glycolytic enzymes, and transcription factors AP-1, NFKB, and HIF1 (Vasilevskaya et al., 2008; Gombos et al., 2011; Ni et al., 2017; Vadde et al., 2017).