Ospedale San Gerardo-Universita' Milano Bicocca, Clinica Ematologica, Monza, Italy.
Am J Hematol. 2012 Mar;87(3):319-20. doi: 10.1002/ajh.22264. Epub 2011 Dec 21.
Circulating endothelial cells (CECs) have been studied in cardiovascular disorders and as a marker of angiogenetic activity; clinical applications are limited by a lack of consensus on their phenotypic identification and quantification. We determined CECs in essential thrombocythemia (ET) patients, to investigate their possible pathogenetic role. We considered CECs as CD146⁺/CD45⁻ nucleated cells, detected in peripheral blood from 21 healthy controls and 39 ET patients, performing a combination of pre-enrichment of CD146⁺ circulating cells and multiparametric flow cytometry measurement (FCM). Levels of CECs in ET patients were higher with respect to controls (median 2844 CECs/mL vs. 121.3 CECs/mL, P < 0.0001). Apparently hydroxyurea treatment did not influence the levels of CECs. As another established marker of endothelial activation, we also assessed soluble E-selectin (sE-selectin) levels in 31 of the ET patients and compared with 39 healthy volunteers: median sE-selectin level in ET patients was 35.3 ng/mL, higher with respect to controls (24.48 ng/mL), P = 0.0369. Our data suggest that endothelium in ET is activated, reflecting a significant role of angiogenesis in this disorder and suggesting an important endothelial contribution in the hypercoagulable state of ET patients.
循环内皮细胞（CEC）已在心血管疾病和血管生成活性标志物中进行了研究；由于缺乏对其表型鉴定和定量的共识，其临床应用受到限制。我们在原发性血小板增多症（ET）患者中确定了 CEC，以研究其可能的发病机制。我们将 CEC 视为 CD146⁺/CD45⁻有核细胞，从 21 名健康对照者和 39 名 ET 患者的外周血中检测到，通过 CD146⁺循环细胞的预富集和多参数流式细胞术测量（FCM）相结合进行检测。与对照组相比，ET 患者的 CEC 水平更高（中位数 2844 CECs/mL 与 121.3 CECs/mL，P < 0.0001）。显然，羟基脲治疗并不影响 CEC 水平。作为另一种已确立的内皮激活标志物，我们还评估了 31 名 ET 患者和 39 名健康志愿者的可溶性 E-选择素（sE-选择素）水平：ET 患者的中位 sE-选择素水平为 35.3ng/mL，高于对照组（24.48ng/mL），P = 0.0369。我们的数据表明，ET 中的内皮细胞被激活，反映了血管生成在这种疾病中的重要作用，并表明内皮细胞在 ET 患者的高凝状态中具有重要作用。
