Ozkok Abdullah, Yildiz Alaattin
University of Health Sciences, Umraniye Training and Research Hospital, Department of Nephrology, Istanbul, Turkey,
Istanbul University, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Department of Nephrology, Istanbul, Turkey.
Kidney Blood Press Res. 2018;43(3):701-718. doi: 10.1159/000489745. Epub 2018 May 10.
Endothelial progenitor cells (EPC) are bone marrow derived or tissue-resident cells that play major roles in the maintenance of vascular integrity and repair of endothelial damage. Although EPCs may be capable of directly engrafting and regenerating the endothelium, the most important effects of EPCs seem to be depended on paracrine effects. In recent studies, specific microvesicles and mRNAs have been found to mediate the pro-angiogenic and regenerative effects of EPCs on endothelium. EPC counts have important prognostic implications in cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Uremia and inflammation are associated with lower EPC counts which probably contribute to increased CVD risks in patients with chronic kidney disease. Beneficial effects of the EPC therapies have been shown in studies performed on different models of CVD and kidney diseases such as acute and chronic kidney diseases and glomerulonephritis. However, lack of a clear definition and specific marker of EPCs is the most important problem causing difficulties in interpretation of the results of the studies investigating EPCs.
内皮祖细胞（EPC）是源自骨髓或组织驻留的细胞，在维持血管完整性和修复内皮损伤中起主要作用。尽管EPC可能能够直接植入并再生内皮，但EPC最重要的作用似乎取决于旁分泌效应。在最近的研究中，已发现特定的微泡和mRNA介导EPC对内皮的促血管生成和再生作用。EPC计数在心血管疾病（CVD）中具有重要的预后意义。尿毒症和炎症与较低的EPC计数相关，这可能导致慢性肾脏病患者的CVD风险增加。在针对不同的CVD和肾脏疾病模型（如急性和慢性肾脏病以及肾小球肾炎）进行的研究中，已显示出EPC疗法的有益效果。然而，缺乏EPC的明确定义和特异性标志物是导致研究EPC的研究结果难以解释的最重要问题。
