Characterisation of progenitor cells in human atherosclerotic vessels

Circulating CD34+ cell subsets in patients with coronary endothelial dysfunction

“…The presence of increased progenitor cells in atherosclerotic plaques has been demonstrated by Torsney in human vascular tissue obtained at the time of coronary bypass surgery. 37 The role of bone marrow derived cells in sites of endothelial disease has yet to be elucidated, but there is growing evidence that it may include paracrine effects. 38, 39 Indeed, there is increasing evidence to suggest that vascular progenitors may be resident within the vessel wall itself 40 which may be quiescent unless triggered by a cytokine or growth factor signal perhaps from a circulating cell of bone marrow origin.…”

Vascular Wall Progenitor Cells in Health and Disease

“…In human and animal vessels, this region contains prominent expression of markers for stemness (CD34, c-kit, Stro-1, Notch-1, Oct-4, Sca-1, and Flk-1) and cell proliferation. 5,8,11,30,34,114,118 Here, there seems to be symbiosis between resident multipotent progenitors and those committed to endothelial, smooth muscle, and macrophage lineage. It is currently unknown if different VW-PCs share common ancestry and to what extent they are present permanently in the vasculature after embryonic seeding or merely in dynamic transit there because of circulatory surveillance.…”

“…this time, it is also unclear as to the degree of overlap between adventitial CD34 + progenitors described in human vessels and Sca-1 + cells in mice. Although reported in at least one study, 118 the study of Sca-1 + counterparts in human arteries is significantly hampered by the lack of a human ortholog for the Sca-1 marker. 119 Notably, there is coexpression of CD34, Sca-1 and c-kit in murine adventitia, 5,10,11 suggesting that their combined use may help to identify progenitor subpopulations with higher precision, and this may be further improved by inclusion of other lineage-specific markers (eg, PDGFR-β for SPCs; CX 3 CR1 and CD115 for AMPCs; and CD133 and VEGFR2 for EPCs).…”

Endothelial and Vascular Smooth Cell Dysfunctions: A Comprehensive Appraisal

“…Inside normal vessel walls the existence of resident progenitor cells (expressing stem cell antigens) capable of contributing to neointima formation has been recently shown (Orlandi et al, 2008;Torsney et al, 2007): the number of these resident VSMCs progenitors has been shown to increase in atherosclerotic lesions (Torsney et al, 2007). These progenitor cells are different from marrow-derived smooth muscle progenitor cells, since they lack the ability to differentiate into erythroid, lymphoid, or myeloid tissue (Jackson et al, 1999).…”