Yan Fanchen, Li Jing, Zhang Wei
The Key Laboratory of Hunan Province for Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine on Prevention and Treatment of Cardio-Cerebral Diseases, College of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha, Hunan 410208, China.
The Key Laboratory of Hunan Province for Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine on Prevention and Treatment of Cardio-Cerebral Diseases, College of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha, Hunan 410208, China.
Acta Histochem. 2023 Jan;125(1):151990. doi: 10.1016/j.acthis.2022.151990. Epub 2022 Dec 30.
Endothelial Progenitor Cells (EPCs) are precursor cells of endothelial cells (ECs), which can differentiate into vascular ECs, protect from endothelial dysfunction and tissue ischemia, and reduce vascular hyperplasia. Due to these functions, EPCs are used as a candidate cell source for transplantation strategies. In recent years, a great progress was achieved in EPCs biology research, and EPCs transplantation has become a research hotspot. At present, transplanted EPCs have been used to treat ischemic diseases due to their powerful vasculogenesis and beneficial paracrine effects. Although EPCs transplantation has been proved to play an important role, the clinical application of EPCs still faces many challenges. This review briefly summarized the basic characteristics of EPCs, the process of EPCs transplantation promoting the healing of ischemic tissue, and the ways to improve the efficiency of EPCs transplantation. In addition, the application of EPCs in neurological improvement, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and the challenges and problems in clinical application of EPCs were also discussed. In the end, the application of EPCs transplantation in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering was discussed.
内皮祖细胞（EPCs）是内皮细胞（ECs）的前体细胞，可分化为血管内皮细胞，预防内皮功能障碍和组织缺血，并减少血管增生。由于这些功能，EPCs被用作移植策略的候选细胞来源。近年来，EPCs生物学研究取得了很大进展，EPCs移植已成为研究热点。目前，移植的EPCs因其强大的血管生成作用和有益的旁分泌作用而被用于治疗缺血性疾病。尽管EPCs移植已被证明发挥重要作用，但EPCs的临床应用仍面临许多挑战。本文简要综述了EPCs的基本特征、EPCs移植促进缺血组织愈合的过程以及提高EPCs移植效率的方法。此外，还讨论了EPCs在神经功能改善、心血管和呼吸系统疾病中的应用以及EPCs临床应用中的挑战和问题。最后，探讨了EPCs移植在再生医学和组织工程中的应用。
