Diamond Blackfan anaemia (DBA) is a red blood cell aplasia characterized by erythropoietic defects as well as congenital anomalies. Forty percent of patients with DBA are treated with glucocorticoid steroids, which remain the mainstay of treatment in DBA. Many advances in the understanding of the physiological role of the glucocorticoid receptor have been made since the first introduction of glucocorticoids to the clinic, but their mechanism of action in the treatment of DBA is still under

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... tigation. This review is intended to summarize the mechanism of glucocorticoid action specifically as related to erythropoiesis, focusing on the functional links between glucocorticoids and cytokines. In vitro, GCs enhance the formation of murine erythroid colonies [23] and increase proliferation of erythroid cells in the presence of limiting amounts of erythropoietin (Epo) [24] . Interestingly, GCs also stimulate erythropoiesis indirectly by increasing Epo production in the kidney [25] .