CD34 − /CD133 + /VEGFR-2 + Endothelial Progenitor Cell Subpopulation With Potent Vasoregenerative Capacities

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Our goal was to identify functionally important subpopulations within the heterogenous group of endothelial progenitor cells (EPC). Fluorescence-activated cell sorter analysis of CD133+ progenitor cells revealed the presence of CD34+ and CD34− subpopulations. CD34−/133+ progenitors differentiate into CD34+/133+ EPC, adhere more potently than these in response to SDF-1, and rapidly home to sites of limb ischemia in human volunteers. In human coronary atherectomy samples, fewer CD34−/133+ than CD34+/133+ EPC are present in stable plaques, whereas cell numbers increase with a reversion of the ratio in unstable lesions. In CD34−/133+ EPC-injected nude mice, more transplanted cells coexpressing endothelial markers home to carotid artery lesion endothelium than in CD34+/133+-injected mice. In the former, lesions were smaller and reendothelialization higher than in the latter. We identified a new CD34−/133+ EPC subpopulation, which is apparently a precursor of “classical” CD34+/133+ EPC, and functionally more potent than these with respect to homing and vascular repair.