The invention relates to negative functional modulators of at least one variant of the non-erythrogenic
erythropoietin (V-EPO) and pharmaceutical compositions or kits containing them. Such functional negative modulators of V-EPO may be a mono- or multi-
specific antibody anti-EV3, anti-EV4, anti-EV1-4, anti-EV1-5, anti-EV1-1, or EV2-1, or anti-Epo
receptor (EpoR) anti-EPHB4, anti-CSF2RB, an antisense
oligonucleotide,
DNA decoy,
RNA decoy, a
ribozyme, an
antagomiR, a shRNA, LNA or siRNA.Several uses of these functional modulators are described, which have been advantageously employed as a medicament and for the treatment of an oncological
pathology, a proliferative
pathology, chronic inflammatory diseases on an autoimmune and non-autoimmune basis, of neurodegenerative diseases, and in the treatment of patients undergoing organ or
tissue transplantation.The invention also describes variants of EPO for use in the diagnosis and in the treatment of an oncological
pathology, a proliferative pathology, chronic inflammatory diseases on an autoimmune and non-autoimmune basis, of neurodegenerative diseases, and in the treatment of patients undergoing an organ or
tissue transplantation and as a
diagnostic agent.According to another aspect, a
monoclonal antibody to at least one of the variants of the
erythropoietin is described.According to yet another aspect, the use of at least one
alternative splicing variant of non-erythrogenic EPO and the measurement thereof at tissue and / or systemic level is described, as well as the study of the
methylation status of the promoters of the genes involved in the EPO signalling pathway (by way of example EPO, EPOR, EPHB4, CSF2RB), as diagnostic, prognostic and predictive markers of an oncological pathology, a proliferative pathology, neurodegenerative or inflammatory pathology.