Sekiguchi Haruki, Ii Masaaki, Losordo Douglas W
Feinberg Cardiovascular Research Institute, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois 60611, USA.
J Cell Physiol. 2009 May;219(2):235-42. doi: 10.1002/jcp.21672.
Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are a subset of the total mononuclear cell population (tMNCs) that possess an enhanced potential for differentiation within the endothelial-cell lineage. Typically, EPCs are selected from tMNCs via the expression of both hematopoietic stem-cell markers and endothelial-cell markers, such as CD34, or by culturing tMNCs in media selective for endothelial cells. Both EPCs and tMNCs participate in vascular growth and regeneration, and their potential use for treatment of myocardial injury or disease has been evaluated in early-phase clinical studies. Direct comparisons between EPCs and tMNCs are rare, but the available evidence appears to favor EPCs, particularly CD34+ cells, and the potency of EPCs may be increased as much as 30-fold through genetic modification. However, these observations must be interpreted with caution because clinical investigations of EPC therapy are ongoing. We anticipate that with continued development, EPC therapy will become a safe and effective treatment option for patients with acute myocardial infarction or chronic ischemic disease.
内皮祖细胞（EPCs）是总单核细胞群体（tMNCs）的一个子集，在内皮细胞谱系中具有增强的分化潜力。通常，通过造血干细胞标志物和内皮细胞标志物（如CD34）的表达从tMNCs中筛选EPCs，或者通过在对内皮细胞有选择性的培养基中培养tMNCs来获得。EPCs和tMNCs都参与血管生长和再生，并且它们在心肌损伤或疾病治疗中的潜在用途已在早期临床研究中得到评估。EPCs和tMNCs之间的直接比较很少见，但现有证据似乎支持EPCs，特别是CD34+细胞，并且通过基因修饰，EPCs的效力可能会提高多达30倍。然而，由于EPC治疗的临床研究仍在进行中，这些观察结果必须谨慎解释。我们预计，随着不断发展，EPC治疗将成为急性心肌梗死或慢性缺血性疾病患者安全有效的治疗选择。
