title: Mesoangioblasts--vascular progenitors for extravascular mesodermal tissues.
abstract: Mesoangioblasts are multipotent progenitors of mesodermal tissues that express the key marker of angiopoietic progenitors, Flk1 (VEGF-receptor 2), and are physically associated with the embryonic dorsal aorta in avian and mammalian species. When transplanted in vivo, they give rise to multiple differentiated mesodermal phenotypes. Their ability to extensively self-renew in vitro, while retaining multipotency, qualifies mesoangioblasts as a novel class of stem cells. Mesoangioblasts disclose not only an unexpected source of progenitors for skeletal muscle and a variety of other mesoderm-derived tissues, but also establish a lineage kinship between progenitors of vascular and extravascular mesodermal tissues, with important basic and applicative implications.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cell Biology and Tissue Engineering, San Raffaele Biomedical Science Park of Rome, Via Castel Romano 100, 00128 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Giulio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cossu
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bianco
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001011:Aorta / Q000502:physiology; D001808:Blood Vessels / Q000502:physiology; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008648:Mesoderm / Q000502:physiology*; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology*