Since the initial discovery of endothelial progenitor cells (EPC), and their promise in increasing angiogenesis and vasculogenesis, a myriad of papers have highlighted their potential application in experimental and clinical neovascularization and in tissue engineering. However, promising reports are contrasted by other studies that could not find a role for EPC in neovascularization. Presently...

Tissue neovascularization involves recruitment of circulating endothelial progenitor cells that originate in the bone marrow. Here, we show that a class of embryonic endothelial progenitor cells (Tie-2+, c-Kit+, Sca-1+, and Flk-1-/low), which were isolated at E7.5 of mouse development at the onset of vasculogenesis, retain their ability to contribute to tumor angiogenesis in the adult. Using in...

BACKGROUND Proangiogenic cell therapy based on administration of bone marrow-derived mononuclear cells (BMCs) or endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) is now under investigation in humans for the treatment of ischemic diseases. However, mechanisms leading to the beneficial effects of BMCs and EPCs remain unclear. METHODS AND RESULTS BMC- and CD34+-derived progenitor cells interacted with ischem...

Endothelial dysfunction has been associated with the development of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases. Adult endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are derived from hematopoietic stem cells and are capable of forming new blood vessels through a process of vasculogenesis. There are studies which report correlations between circulating EPCs and cardiovascular risk factors. There are also s...

Introduction: Endothelial progenitor cells (EPC) are involved in vascular repair and proliferation, contributing to the long-term outcomes of apheretic treatment. Aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between endothelial function, assessed by levels of bone marrow-derived progenitor cells and endothelial response to hyperaemia, and clinical and biohumoral parameters in high vas...

This review discusses the concept that the turnover and replacement of endothelial cells is a major mechanism in the maintenance of vascular integrity within the kidney. CD133+CD34+KDR+ endothelial cell progenitor cells emigrate from the bone marrow and differentiate into CD34+KDR+ expressing cells, which are present in high numbers within the circulation. These progenitor cells are available f...

Previously we showed that a large number of endothelial cells in vein grafts undergo apoptosis or necrosis during the first few days followed by endothelial regeneration. In the present study, we investigated endothelial cell death and regeneration in vein grafts using transgenic mice carrying LacZ genes driven by an endothelial TIE2 promoter. When a vein fragment from TIE2-LacZ was isografted ...