Analysis of origin and optimization of expansion and transduction of circulating peripheral blood endothelial progenitor cells in the rhesus macaque model.

Adult marrow-derived cells have been shown to contribute to various nonhematologic tissues and, conversely, primitive cells isolated from nonhematopoietic tissues have been shown to reconstitute hematopoiesis. Circulating endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) have been reported to be at least partially donor derived after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation, and shown to contribute to neovascularization in murine ischemia models. However, it is unknown whether these EPCs are actually clonally derived from the same population of stem and progenitor cells that reconstitute hematopoiesis, or from another cell population found in the marrow or mobilized blood that is transferred during transplantation. To approach this question, we characterized circulating EPCs and also endothelial cells from large vessels harvested at autopsy from rhesus macaques previously transplanted with retrovirally transduced autologous CD34-enriched peripheral blood stem cells (PBSCs). Endothelial cells were grown in culture for 21-28 days and were characterized as CD31(+) CD14(-) via flow cytometry, as acLDL(+) UEA-1(+) via immunohistochemistry, and as Flk-1(+) by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Animals had stable vector marking in hematopoietic lineages of 2-15%. Neither cultured circulating EPCs collected in steady state (n = 3), nor endothelial cells grown from large vessels (n = 2), had detectable retroviral marking. EPCs were CD34(+) and could be mobilized into the circulation with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor. Under ex vivo culture conditions, in which CD34(+) cells were optimized to transduce hematopoietic progenitor and stem cells, there was a marked depletion of EPCs. Transduction of EPCs was much more efficient under conditions supporting endothelial cell growth. Further elucidation of the origin and in vivo behavior of EPCs may be possible, using optimized transduction conditions and a vascular injury model.