Hur Jin, Yoon Chang-Hwan, Kim Hyo-Soo, Choi Jin-Ho, Kang Hyun-Jae, Hwang Kyung-Kook, Oh Byung-Hee, Lee Myoung-Mook, Park Young-Bae
Cardiovascular Laboratory, Clinical Research Institute, Seoul National University Hospital, Korea.
Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2004 Feb;24(2):288-93. doi: 10.1161/01.ATV.0000114236.77009.06. Epub 2003 Dec 29.
Endothelial progenitor cells (EPC) in one study group is not the same as EPC in other investigators, suggesting that EPC is not a single type of cell population. In this study, we tried to demonstrate the heterogeneity of EPC.
We cultured total mononuclear cells from human peripheral blood to get two types of EPC sequentially from the same donors. We called them early EPC and late EPC. Early EPC with spindle shape showed peak growth at 2 to 3 weeks and died at 4 weeks, whereas late EPC with cobblestone shape appeared late at 2 to 3 weeks, showed exponential growth at 4 to 8 weeks, and lived up to 12 weeks. Late EPC was different from early EPC in the expression of VE-cadherin, Flt-1, KDR, and CD45. Late EPC produced more nitric oxide, incorporated more readily into human umbilical vein endothelial cells monolayer, and formed capillary tube better than early EPC. Early EPC secreted angiogenic cytokines (vascular endothelial growth factor, interleukin 8) more so than late EPC during culture in vitro. Both types of EPC showed comparable in vivo vasculogenic capacity.
We found two types of EPC from a source of adult peripheral blood that might have different roles in neovasculogenesis based on the identified differences.
一个研究组中的内皮祖细胞（EPC）与其他研究者所研究的EPC并不相同，这表明EPC不是单一类型的细胞群体。在本研究中，我们试图证明EPC的异质性。
我们从人类外周血中培养总单核细胞，从同一供体中依次获得两种类型的EPC。我们将它们称为早期EPC和晚期EPC。呈纺锤形的早期EPC在2至3周时生长达到峰值，并在4周时死亡，而呈鹅卵石形状的晚期EPC在2至3周时出现较晚，在4至8周时呈指数生长，并存活至12周。晚期EPC在血管内皮钙黏蛋白、Flt-1、KDR和CD45的表达上与早期EPC不同。晚期EPC产生更多的一氧化氮，更容易整合到人类脐静脉内皮细胞单层中，并且比早期EPC能更好地形成毛细血管管。在体外培养期间，早期EPC比晚期EPC分泌更多的血管生成细胞因子（血管内皮生长因子、白细胞介素8）。两种类型的EPC在体内血管生成能力方面表现相当。
我们从成人外周血来源中发现了两种类型的EPC，基于所确定的差异，它们在新生血管形成中可能具有不同的作用。
