Pearson J D
King's College London, Cardiovascular Division, London, UK.
J Thromb Haemost. 2009 Feb;7(2):255-62. doi: 10.1111/j.1538-7836.2008.03214.x.
The discovery of endothelial progenitor cells (EPC) radically altered our views of adult tissue angiogenesis, indicating the contribution of circulating bone marrow-derived cells to new blood vessel formation, rather than migration and replication of local endothelial cells. This opened up the prospect of new ways to repair damaged tissues, using EPC to encourage neoangiogenesis or the re-endothelialization of larger vessels. Within less than 5 years from the description of EPC and the inception of experimental studies, human studies were started with the aim of using autologous bone marrow-derived EPC to enhance tissue function after ischemic vascular injury, particularly after myocardial infarction (MI). However, the clinical studies have shown at best modestly encouraging results. Moreover, subsequent investigation has made it clear that these EPC are not true endothelial progenitors, although they are likely to play a role in angiogenesis by virtue of the release of paracrine angiogenic factors. This review summarizes knowledge of EPC and our current understanding of their function, together with what is known of the properties of genuine endothelial progenitor cells and how they will be used in the future to design more effective means of therapeutic angiogenesis.
内皮祖细胞（EPC）的发现彻底改变了我们对成人组织血管生成的看法，表明循环骨髓来源的细胞对新血管形成有贡献，而非局部内皮细胞的迁移和复制。这开启了利用EPC促进血管新生或大血管再内皮化来修复受损组织的新途径的前景。在EPC被描述以及实验研究开始后的不到5年时间里，人类研究就已启动，目的是使用自体骨髓来源的EPC来增强缺血性血管损伤后，尤其是心肌梗死（MI）后的组织功能。然而，临床研究最多只显示出适度令人鼓舞的结果。此外，后续研究已明确这些EPC并非真正的内皮祖细胞，尽管它们可能通过旁分泌血管生成因子在血管生成中发挥作用。本综述总结了关于EPC的知识以及我们目前对其功能的理解，同时也介绍了真正内皮祖细胞的特性以及未来如何利用它们来设计更有效的治疗性血管生成方法。
