What Are Endothelial Progenitor Cells?
Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are precursor cells of vascular endothelial cells, also known as angioblasts.They can be mobilized from the bone marrow to peripheral blood to participate in the repair of damaged blood vessels under the stimulation of physiological or pathological factors. In 1997, Asahara et al. First demonstrated the existence of precursor cells that can differentiate into vascular endothelial cells in circulating peripheral blood and named them vascular endothelial progenitor cells. Studies have shown that endothelial progenitor cells are involved in cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, peripheral vascular diseases, and tumors. Angiogenesis and wound healing all play important roles, and provide new ideas for the research and treatment of ischemic diseases. The research on the biological characteristics and therapeutic effects of EPCs has become a new focus in this field.
Endothelial progenitor cells
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- Chinese name
- Endothelial progenitor cells
- Foreign name
- endothelial progenitor cells, EPCs
- nickname
- Angioblast
- Types of
- Blood vessel
- Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are precursor cells of vascular endothelial cells, also known as angioblasts.They can be mobilized from the bone marrow to peripheral blood to participate in the repair of damaged blood vessels under the stimulation of physiological or pathological factors. In 1997, Asahara et al. First demonstrated the existence of precursor cells that can differentiate into vascular endothelial cells in circulating peripheral blood and named them vascular endothelial progenitor cells. Studies have shown that endothelial progenitor cells are involved in cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, peripheral vascular diseases, and tumors. Angiogenesis and wound healing all play important roles, and provide new ideas for the research and treatment of ischemic diseases. The research on the biological characteristics and therapeutic effects of EPCs has become a new focus in this field.
- CD34, CD133, and KDR / FIk-1 are commonly used to identify EPCs. CD34 is a sialic mucin with a molecular weight of 110 ku, and is selectively expressed in
- EPCs are a group of immature endothelial cells with migratory characteristics that can further proliferate and differentiate. They lack the characteristic phenotype of mature endothelial cells and cannot form a luminal-like structure. Its function is mainly involved in the angiogenesis of ischemic tissue after birth and the repair of vascular injury.
- Human EPCs mainly exist in
- Endothelial progenitor cells are easy to obtain and have broad application prospects in cell therapy and gene therapy for vascular regeneration and cardiovascular diseases. For example, the use of endothelial progenitor cells to repair the heart of patients with myocardial infarction, treatment of clinical limb ischemia, treatment of coronary artery disease, improvement of vascular graft patency, improvement of angiogenesis in diabetic patients, targeted inhibition of tumor angiogenesis, as gene therapy Targeting vectors and target cells, and so on. The application of endothelial cells to treat cardiovascular diseases will be a promising new method.