Madonna Rosalinda, De Caterina Raffaele
Center of Excellence on Aging, "G. d'Annunzio" University, Chieti, Italy.
Center of Excellence on Aging, "G. d'Annunzio" University, Chieti, Italy; Institute of Cardiology, Department of Neurosciences, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, "G. d'Annunzio" University, Chieti, Italy.
Vascul Pharmacol. 2015 Apr-Jun;67-69:2-5. doi: 10.1016/j.vph.2015.02.018. Epub 2015 Apr 11.
Preclinical and clinical studies have suggested that specific subsets of cells isolated from the bone marrow or peripheral blood, collectively named endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs), play an essential role in neovascularization and are biomarkers of atherosclerosis, inversely related to the presence and progression of the disease. Conclusive evidence for both the pathophysiological and the biomarker role of these cells is, however, missing, with lack of a unique and universally accepted interpretation for their role, and the absence of general agreement to prompt their use by the practicing clinician. In fact, the engraftment of EPCs after injection into ischemic areas is poor, their secretome is still largely unknown, and there are still many confounding factors-such as co-morbidities and medications-that limit their use as a faithful biomarker of disease. Here we briefly review the literature on EPCs and discuss their significance in cardiovascular disease both as mediators and as biomarkers, including current methods for their identification.
临床前和临床研究表明，从骨髓或外周血中分离出的特定细胞亚群，统称为内皮祖细胞（EPCs），在新血管形成中起重要作用，并且是动脉粥样硬化的生物标志物，与该疾病的存在和进展呈负相关。然而，这些细胞在病理生理学和生物标志物作用方面的确凿证据尚缺，对其作用缺乏独特且被普遍接受的解释，并且临床医生对于促使使用它们也未达成普遍共识。事实上，EPCs注射到缺血区域后的植入情况不佳，其分泌组仍很大程度上未知，并且仍然存在许多混杂因素，如合并症和药物，这些因素限制了它们作为疾病可靠生物标志物的应用。在此，我们简要回顾关于EPCs的文献，并讨论它们在心血管疾病中作为介质和生物标志物的意义，包括目前用于识别它们的方法。
