Open AccessEndothelial progenitor cells: past, state of the art, and future
Author(s) -
Iwami Yo,
Masuda Haruchika,
Asahara Takayuki
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal of cellular and molecular medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.44
H-Index - 130
eISSN - 1582-4934
pISSN - 1582-1838
DOI - 10.1111/j.1582-4934.2004.tb00473.x
Subject(s) - progenitor cell , neovascularization , medicine , bone marrow , progenitor , pathological , endothelial progenitor cell , stem cell , angiogenesis , cancer research , bioinformatics , immunology , biology , pathology , microbiology and biotechnology
Recent evidences suggest that endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) derived from bone marrow (BM) contribute to de novo vessel formation in adults occurring as physiological and pathological responses. Emerging preclinical trials have shown that EPCs home to sites of neovascularization after ischemic events in limb and myocardium. On the basis of these aspects, EPCs are expected to develop as a key strategy of therapeutic applications for the ischemic organs. Such clinical requirements of EPCs will tentatively accelerate the translational research aiming at the devices to acquire the optimized quality and quantity of EPCs. In this review, we attempt to discuss about biological features of EPCs and speculate on the clinical potential of EPCs for therapeutic neovascularization.