Department of Regenerative Medicine Science, Division of Basic Clinical Science, Tokai University School of Medicine, Shimokasuya, Kanagawa 259-1143, Isehara, Japan.
Trends Cardiovasc Med. 2013 May;23(4):99-103. doi: 10.1016/j.tcm.2012.09.007. Epub 2013 Feb 1.
In stem cell biology, CD34+ or CD133+ hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) give rise to two types of endothelial progenitor cell (EPC) colonies: primitive and definitive EPC-colony forming units (primitive EPC-CFU and definitive EPC-CFU), which can be morphologically defined. Based on their morphology, an evaluation of the number or the ratio of each EPC colony constitutes the Endothelial Progenitor Cell Clonogenic Forming Assay (EPC-CFA), a novel assay to quantify the differentiation of colony forming EPCs. This assay system allows us to practically evaluate the vasculogenic potential of primary or cultured stem cell populations, i.e., mononuclear cells or fractionated stem cells (CD34+ or CD133+ cells) in peripheral blood, bone marrow, or umbilical cord blood. EPC-CFA can be used not only for basic research in vascular biology but also for evaluating the vascular reparative activity of patients with cardiovascular diseases. This review summarizes the underlying concepts and significance of the EPC-CFA in vascular biology.
在干细胞生物学中，CD34+或 CD133+造血干细胞（HSCs）可产生两种类型的内皮祖细胞（EPC）集落：原始和定型 EPC 集落形成单位（原始 EPC-CFU 和定型 EPC-CFU），它们可以通过形态学来定义。基于其形态，对每个 EPC 集落的数量或比例进行评估构成了内皮祖细胞克隆形成分析（EPC-CFA），这是一种用于量化集落形成 EPC 分化的新分析方法。该分析系统使我们能够实际评估原代或培养的干细胞群体（即外周血、骨髓或脐血中的单核细胞或分离的干细胞（CD34+或 CD133+细胞）的血管生成潜力。EPC-CFA 不仅可用于血管生物学的基础研究，还可用于评估心血管疾病患者的血管修复活性。这篇综述总结了 EPC-CFA 在血管生物学中的基本概念和意义。
