Luttun Aernout, Carmeliet Geert, Carmeliet Peter
Center for Transgene Technology and Gene Therapy, Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology, Leuven, Belgium.
Trends Cardiovasc Med. 2002 Feb;12(2):88-96. doi: 10.1016/s1050-1738(01)00152-9.
The identification of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) in the adult human has forced us to reconsider how new blood vessels grow in physiological and pathological conditions in the adult human. An important question in angiogenesis research is to what extent these progenitors functionally contribute to revascularization of ischemic tissues and and to what extent they can be used for therapeutic angiogenic cell transplantation. Even more challenging is the concept that hematopoietic and other bone-marrow-derived stem cells might be recruited in the context of ischemia to induce neovessel formation. This review discusses some of the recent insights and outstanding questions on EPCs, both from a biological and therapeutic perspective.
成人内皮祖细胞（EPCs）的发现促使我们重新思考在成人生理和病理条件下新血管是如何生长的。血管生成研究中的一个重要问题是，这些祖细胞在功能上对缺血组织血管再生的贡献程度如何，以及它们可用于治疗性血管生成细胞移植的程度如何。更具挑战性的概念是，在缺血情况下，造血干细胞和其他骨髓来源的干细胞可能会被募集以诱导新血管形成。本文从生物学和治疗学角度讨论了有关EPCs的一些最新见解和悬而未决的问题。
