Endothelial progenitor cell
Endothelial progenitor cells (engl .: endothelial progenitor cells, EPCs) are in the bloodstream circulating cells derived from the bone marrow derived. They have the ability to differentiate into endothelial cells , which then line blood vessels on the inside. This process, in which blood vessels do not branch off from an existing vessel, but de novo , is called vasculogenesis . For the most part, it takes place during embryonic development . Those endothelial progenitor cells that circulate in adults are therefore related to angioblasts , which are the stem cells from which blood vessels develop during embryogenesis .
EPCs are believed to be part of the pathological angiogenesis as they occur more frequently in cases of retinopathy and tumor growth . While angioblasts have been known for a long time, EPCs in adults were not characterized until the 1990s when Asahara et al. published that a purified population of CD34- positive cells from the blood of adult mice can differentiate into endothelial cells in vitro .
Since EPCs come from the bone marrow, it is believed that various cytokines , growth factors, and hormones release them from there. In the peripheral circulation, they are then attracted to regions where angiogenesis occurs.
See also
swell
- ↑ Asahara T, et al: Isolation of putative progenitor endothelial cells for angiogenesis . In: Science . 275, 1997, pp. 964-967. PMID 9020076 .
- ↑ Asahara T, et al: Bone marrow origin of endothelial progenitor cells responsible for postnatal vasculogenesis in physiological and pathological neovascularization. . In: Circulation Research . 85, No. 6, 1999, pp. 221-228. PMID 10436164 .