Kienstra Kirsten A, Hirschi Karen K
Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.
Methods Mol Biol. 2012;904:155-64. doi: 10.1007/978-1-61779-943-3_13.
Blood vessel formation plays a key role in both physiologic and pathologic tissue growth and healing. Thus, a thorough understanding of the mechanisms underlying neovascularization will translate into innovative clinical treatment strategies for a wide variety of disease processes. Vascular precursor/progenitor cell populations have been isolated from several different tissue types and have a rich potential for use in vascular regenerative strategies. Furthermore, levels of circulating endothelial progenitor cells (EPC) have been shown to correlate with outcomes in cardiovascular and vascular diseases. Treatment with EPC has been shown to improve functional outcomes following cardiac and peripheral vascular ischemia. Recent studies have also demonstrated a role for EPC in pediatric disease processes such as retinopathy of prematurity and bronchopulmonary dysplasia. In addition, many of the drugs utilized to treat vascular disease impact EPC mobilization and function. Importantly, the type of vascular injury appears to dictate the mechanism of neovascularization, highlighting the importance of carefully selected vascular regenerative strategies.
血管形成在生理和病理组织生长及愈合过程中均发挥着关键作用。因此，深入了解新生血管形成的潜在机制将转化为针对多种疾病进程的创新临床治疗策略。血管前体细胞/祖细胞群体已从多种不同组织类型中分离出来，在血管再生策略中具有巨大的应用潜力。此外，循环内皮祖细胞（EPC）水平已被证明与心血管和血管疾病的预后相关。EPC治疗已被证明可改善心脏和外周血管缺血后的功能预后。最近的研究还表明EPC在诸如早产儿视网膜病变和支气管肺发育不良等儿科疾病进程中发挥作用。此外，许多用于治疗血管疾病的药物会影响EPC的动员和功能。重要的是，血管损伤的类型似乎决定了新生血管形成的机制，这凸显了精心选择血管再生策略的重要性。
