Rosiglitazone facilitates angiogenic progenitor cell differentiation toward endothelial lineage: a new paradigm in glitazone pleiotropy.
BACKGROUND
Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPAR-gamma) agonists inhibit vascular smooth muscle proliferation and migration and improve endothelial function. It is unknown whether PPAR-gamma agonists favorably modulate bone marrow (BM)-derived angiogenic progenitor cells (APCs) to promote endothelial lineage differentiation and early reendothelialization after vascular intervention.


RESULTS
C57/BL6 mice, treated with or without rosiglitazone (8 mg/kg per day), a PPAR-gamma agonist, underwent femoral angioplasty. Rosiglitazone treatment attenuated neointimal formation (intima/media ratio: 0.98+/-0.12 [rosiglitazone] versus 3.1+/-0.5 [control]; P<0.001; n=10 per group). Using a BM transplantation model, we identified that 58+/-12% of the cells within the neointima at 4 weeks were derived from the BM. Pure endothelial marker-positive, pure alpha-smooth muscle actin (alphaSMA)-positive, or double-positive APCs could be found both in mouse BM and in human peripheral blood after culture in conditional medium enriched with vascular endothelial growth factor. Rosiglitazone caused a 6-fold (P<0.001) increase in colony formation by human endothelial progenitor cells, promoted the differentiation of APCs toward the endothelial lineage in mouse BM in vivo (0.66+/-0.06% [control] to 0.95+/-0.08% [rosiglitazone]; P<0.05) and in human peripheral blood in vitro (13.2+/-1.5% [control] to 28.4+/-3.3% [rosiglitazone]; P<0.05), and inhibited the differentiation toward the smooth muscle cell lineage. Within the neointima, rosiglitazone also stimulated APCs to differentiate into mature endothelial cells and caused earlier reendothelialization compared with controls (31+/-5 versus 8+/-2 CD31-positive cells per millimeter of neointimal surface on day 14; P<0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
Similar to embryonic stem cell-derived progenitors, the adult BM and peripheral blood harbor APCs that are at least bipotential and able to differentiate into endothelial and smooth muscle lineages. The PPAR-gamma agonist rosiglitazone promotes the differentiation of these APCs toward the endothelial lineage and attenuates restenosis after angioplasty.
Division of Cardiac Surgery, Toronto General Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Chao-Hung
CH
Wang
Nadia
N
Ciliberti
Shu-Hong
SH
Li
Paul E
PE
Szmitko
Richard D
RD
Weisel
Paul W M
PW
Fedak
Mohammed
M
Al-Omran
Wen-Jin
WJ
Cherng
Ren-Ke
RK
Li
William L
WL
Stanford
Subodh
S
Verma
D017130:Angioplasty; D000818:Animals; D001157:Arterial Occlusive Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000601:surgery; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000187:drug effects; D019070:Cell Lineage; D002478:Cells, Cultured / Q000187:drug effects; D003114:Colony-Forming Units Assay; D017077:Culture Media, Conditioned / Q000494:pharmacology; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000166:cytology; D005263:Femoral Artery / Q000293:injuries / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D006965:Hyperplasia / Q000517:prevention & control; D008297:Male; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D039902:Multipotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects*; D032342:Muscle Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D009131:Muscle, Smooth, Vascular / Q000166:cytology; D018919:Neovascularization, Physiologic / Q000187:drug effects; D011828:Radiation Chimera; D018160:Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear / Q000819:agonists* / Q000502:physiology; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000494:pharmacology; D000077154:Rosiglitazone; D045162:Thiazolidinediones / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000819:agonists* / Q000502:physiology; D017539:Tunica Intima / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000494:pharmacology
D017077:Culture Media, Conditioned; D018160:Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D045162:Thiazolidinediones; D014157:Transcription Factors; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D000077154:Rosiglitazone