内皮祖细胞在肿瘤血管生成中的作用机制

The functional mechanism of EPC in tumor vascularization

有研究指出缺血组织和肿瘤的新血管系统均源自于新血管发生,而骨髓源性的循环内皮祖细胞(bone marrow-derived circulating endothelial progenitor cell,BMCEPC)有利于血管的形成,而之前认为此机制仅发生在胚胎的血管之中,内皮祖细胞(endothelial progenitor cell,EPC)的发现改变了这一观念并因此引入了一种关于血管再生的治疗新理念,EPC相关的缺血及肿瘤治疗的临床前研究已应用于人类缺血疾病的试验性治疗。

Recent studies indicate that portions of ischemic and tumor neovasculature are derived by ＂neovasculogenesis＂, whereby bone marrow （BM）-derived circulating endothelial progenitor cell （EPC） home to sites of regenerative or malignant growth and contribute to blood vessel formation. But that mechanism was previously believed to be restricted to the development of blood vessels in the embryo. The discovery of EPCs has changed that paradigm and introduced the notion of cellular therapy as a novel approach to therapeutic angiogenesis. The ability of EPC to promote revascularization of injured and ischemic tissues or as cellular therapy to target cancer growth is being pursued in both preclinical models and, more recently, human trials to treat ischemia.