Alba Ana Carolina, Delgado Diego Hernan, Rao Vivek, Walter Stephen, Guyatt Gordon, Ross Heather Joan
Heart Failure/Transplant Program, Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Expert Rev Cardiovasc Ther. 2012 Feb;10(2):167-75. doi: 10.1586/erc.11.178.
For the last two decades, endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) have been proposed as a novel prognostic marker and potential therapeutic target in patients with cardiovascular diseases. EPCs are involved in the process of adult vasculogenesis and repair of dysfunctional endothelium. Endothelial dysfunction has been documented in the peripheral and coronary arteries of chronic heart failure (HF) patients, and has proved to be an independent predictor of morbidity and mortality in HF patients. This has led researchers to analyze the association of EPCs and disease severity in HF patients. In this paper, we review studies analyzing the prognostic role of EPCs in patients with HF. Through a systematic search, we identified 14 relevant studies. Only one study analyzed mortality as an outcome; the others evaluated the association between EPC levels and patients' characteristics. Overall, results were inconsistent and suggested that levels of EPCs may vary according to factors such as disease severity, underlying cause of cardiomyopathy and medical therapy.
在过去二十年中，内皮祖细胞（EPCs）被认为是心血管疾病患者一种新的预后标志物和潜在治疗靶点。EPCs参与成人血管生成及功能失调内皮的修复过程。慢性心力衰竭（HF）患者的外周和冠状动脉已证实存在内皮功能障碍，且已被证明是HF患者发病和死亡的独立预测指标。这促使研究人员分析HF患者中EPCs与疾病严重程度的关联。在本文中，我们综述了分析EPCs在HF患者中预后作用的研究。通过系统检索，我们确定了14项相关研究。只有一项研究将死亡率作为结局指标进行分析；其他研究评估了EPC水平与患者特征之间的关联。总体而言，结果不一致，提示EPCs水平可能因疾病严重程度、心肌病潜在病因和药物治疗等因素而有所不同。
