Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
Ann Rheum Dis. 2012 Apr;71(4):617-20. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2011-200713. Epub 2012 Jan 17.
It has been proposed that dysfunctional endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) play a role in pathogenic vasculopathy in systemic sclerosis (SSc). However, there is some debate as to whether the EPC count is reduced in SSc. The European League Against Rheumatism Scleroderma Trials and Research (EUSTAR) group recently proposed recommendations for evaluating EPCs.
To validate the proposed EUSTAR recommendations by a side-by-side comparison of methods for quantifying EPCs.
Peripheral blood samples were obtained from 11 patients with SSc and 11 age-matched healthy controls. EPCs were simultaneously quantified by two methods: flow cytometry combined with immunomagnetic CD34+ cell enrichment or rosette-based lineage-negative (Lin-) cell enrichment. EPCs, defined as CD34+CD133+VEGFR2+ cells, were counted with and without fluorosphere calibration.
EPC counts measured with fluorosphere calibration correlated well with each other, regardless of the enrichment procedure used. In contrast, EPC counts from protocols that did not use fluorospheres correlated poorly with results from other protocols.
The EUSTAR recommendations are valid when they are combined with fluorosphere calibration.
据认为，功能失调的内皮祖细胞（EPC）在系统性硬化症（SSc）的致病血管病变中起作用。然而，关于 SSc 中 EPC 计数是否减少仍存在一些争议。欧洲抗风湿病联盟硬皮病试验和研究（EUSTAR）小组最近提出了评估 EPC 的建议。
通过并排比较定量 EPC 的方法来验证 EUSTAR 建议的有效性。
从 11 例 SSc 患者和 11 名年龄匹配的健康对照者中获得外周血样本。通过两种方法同时定量 EPC：流式细胞术联合免疫磁珠 CD34+细胞富集或基于玫瑰花结的谱系阴性（Lin-）细胞富集。使用和不使用荧光球校准来计数 CD34+CD133+VEGFR2+细胞作为 EPC。
使用荧光球校准测量的 EPC 计数彼此之间相关性良好，而与使用的富集程序无关。相比之下，未使用荧光球的方案中的 EPC 计数与其他方案的结果相关性较差。
当 EUSTAR 建议与荧光球校准结合使用时是有效的。
