Background: Recombinant erythropoietin therapy is well established as an effectivetreatment for the anaemia of end stage renal disease. However 5-10% of such patients do notrespond adequately and an important contributory factor is chronic inflammation. The aim ofthe work is to evaluate the response to erythropoietin in patients with chronic renal failure.Methods: Ninety individual, seventy of which were patients of chronic renal failure, whilethe remaining twenty were considered the control group.Results: Interleukin-10 production in the poor responders to erythropoietin was foundsignificantly higher than the interleukin -10 production in the group of good responders toerythropoietin and the group of controls.Conclusion: Interleukin-10 can be relied upon as a marker of chronic inflammation in thepatients of end stage renal disease responding poorly to erythropoietin.