Endothelial Progenitors as Tools to Study Vascular Disease

Abstract

Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) have great clinical value because they can be used as diagnostic biomarkers and as a cellular therapy for promoting vascular repair of ischaemic tissues. However, EPCs also have an additional research value in vascular disease modelling to interrogate human disease mechanisms. The term EPC is used to describe a diverse variety of cells, and we have identified a specific EPC subtype called outgrowth endothelial cell (OEC) as the best candidate for vascular disease modelling because of its high-proliferative potential and unambiguous endothelial commitment. OECs are isolated from human blood and can be exposed to pathologic conditions (forward approach) or be isolated from patients (reverse approach) in order to study vascular human disease. The use of OECs for modelling vascular disease will contribute greatly to improving our understanding of endothelial pathogenesis, which will potentially lead to the discovery of novel therapeutic strategies for vascular diseases.

Microparticles of healthy origins improve endothelial progenitor cell dysfunction via microRNA transfer in an atherosclerotic hamster model

“…These procedures were performed according to previously described methods by Medina et al . Briefly, total MNCs were isolated from peripheral blood collected in trisodium citrate anticoagulated tubes, using Histopaque‐1077 density‐gradient centrifugation (400 g , 30 min, at 24 °C).…”

“…Also, it has been clearly described that the late EPC immunophenotype is highly positive for the endothelial markers VE‐cadherin, vWF, CD31, CD36, CD105, CD146, VEGFR2 (KDR), Tie‐2 and negative for haematopoietic markers CD14 and CD45. In addition, the late EPC immunophenotype exhibits expression of some progenitor cell markers CD34, CD117 and CD133 …”

Hypoxia-induced responses by endothelial colony-forming cells are modulated by placental growth factor

“…Endothelial colony-forming cells (ECFCs), also known as late EPCs or outgrowth endothelial cells (OECs), are a subset of circulating EPCs with the ability to differentiate into endothelial cells and mediate vascular repair [2]. When isolated, ECFCs have significantly higher proliferative capacity compared with mature endothelial cells, and they maintain their endothelial progenitor phenotype during long-term ex-vivo expansion [3]. ECFCs are also capable of supporting vascular repair in vivo by integration into pre-existing vasculature, significantly reducing areas of ischaemia in murine models of retinopathy, myocardial infarction and stroke [4].…”

Therapeutic revascularisation of ischaemic tissue: the opportunities and challenges for therapy using vascular stem/progenitor cells

“…These cells may also have potential as diagnostic/prognostic biomarkers for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease. There appears to be an inverse correlation between the number of circulating EPCs and the number of deaths from cardiovascular events [35]; furthermore, they can also be used as tools to study vascular disease [36]. EPCs may be isolated from peripheral blood, BM and umbilical cord blood.…”