血管内皮祖细胞与糖尿病视网膜病变的关系

The relationship of vascular endothelial progenitor cells and diabetic retinopathy

血管内皮祖细胞(EPCs)是一种能直接分化为血管内皮细胞的前体细胞,它与出生后的血管形成密切相关,具有重要的生理病理学意义。糖尿病视网膜病变(DR)是糖尿病最常见的血管并发症之一,其发病原因与患者体内EPCs的数量及功能有密切的关系。就EPCs的生理特性、EPCs与DR的关系以及EPCs对DR治疗的展望进行综述。

A growing amount of evidence demonstrates that endothelial progenitor cells（EPCs） are capacity of migrating to the peripheral circulation and differentiating into mature endothelial cells. So EPCs are also termed angioblasts. EPCs have important physiological and pathophysiological significance in adult neovasculogenesis process. These cells are recruited to the loci of injury ,where they can differentiate into endothelial cells that are capable of engrafting with the native tissue. This phenomenon suggests that EPCs mobilization to the sites of injury may participate in local tissue repair. The abundance of circulating EPCs, although low in basal conditions,increases several fold after mobilization with cytokines and growth factors. Diabetic retinopathy （DR） is one of the most common diabetic vascular complications and is indeed associated with alterations of the number and the function of EPCs. This review focus on the characterization of EPCs and the relationships between EPCs and diabetic retinopathy and future therapeutical implications.