Postnatal vasculogenesis is considered to be involved in neovascularization of adult tissues, because bone marrow-derived endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) were isolated from circulating mononuclear cells in peripheral blood and were shown to incorporate into sites of physiological and pathological neovascularization and to differentiate into mature endothelial cells. EPCs might have an attra...

In the past decade, researchers have gained important insights on the role of bone marrow (BM)-derived cells in adult neovascularization. A subset of BM-derived cells, called endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs), has been of particular interest, as these cells were suggested to home to sites of neovascularization and neoendothelialization and differentiate into endothelial cells (ECs) in situ, a...

The formation of coronary collateral vessels constitutes a compensatory adaptation of the heart to ischemia. This vascular response increases blood supply to the myocardium reducing the area of hypoxic damage and, ultimately, infarct size. The recruitment of collateral vessels within the coronary circulation is favored by multiple episodes of ischemia, which provide the stimuli necessary for th...

SummaryPreterm birth is associated with alteration of the vascular tree that can result in disease states such as bronchopulmonary dysplasia and retinopathy of prematurity during the neonatal period and emphysema and hypertension in adulthood. Studies have suggested a potential role for endothelial progenitor cells in the pathophysiology of prematurity-related complications involving blood vess...

Endothelial dysfunction is an established clinical marker of early coronary artery disease and has been shown to be associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. New concepts now extend the view of endothelial dysfunction beyond the traditional involvement of the coronary arterial endothelium alone. Recent research indicates that the coronary vessel wall, especially the vasa...

Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are involved in the maintenance of endothelial homoeostasis and in the process of new vessel formation. Experimental and clinical studies have shown that atherosclerosis is associated with reduced numbers and dysfunction of EPCs; and that medications alone are able to partially reverse the impairment of EPCs in patients with atherosclerosis. Therefore, nove...

Tumor necrosis factor-like cytokine 1A (TL1A) is expressed in endothelial cells and contributes to T-cell activation, via an extracellular fragment TL1A(L72-L251), generated by ectodomain shedding. Fragments of TL1A, referred to as vascular endothelial growth inhibitor, were found to induce growth arrest and apoptosis in endothelial cells; however, the underlying mechanisms remained obscure. He...

321 Received April 6, 2012; revision accepted for publication July 4, 2012. doi: 10.1620/tjem.227.321 *E.K. Kim and J.H. Lee contributed equally to this work. Correspondence: Sang-Do Lee, M.D., Ph.D., Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Asan Medical Center, College of Medicine, University of Ulsan, 388-1 Poongnab-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul 138-736, Kor...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effects of the potent immunosuppressive agents tacrolimus and rapamycin on the number of circulating mature endothelial cells and circulating endothelial progenitor cells in an experimental model. METHODS It was an experimental study performed from December 2007 to January 2008 in which the effects of the immunosuppressive agents tacrolimus and rapamycin on endoth...

objective: endothelial progenitor cells (epcs) have a potential application for cell therapy, however, their biological nature is not well-understood. epcs also possess some stemness features, such as their clonogenicity and differentiation capacity. the main aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of certain transcription factors regulating self-renewal property of stem cells. materia...