title: Efficient differentiation of CD14+ monocytic cells into endothelial cells on degradable biomaterials.
abstract: Vascular tissue engineering aims at creating self-renewing, anti-thrombogenic, vascular grafts, which can be based on endothelial progenitor cells (EPC). EPC harbor essential features such as plasticity and longevity. Unfortunately, the archetype CD34(+) EPC is rare in peripheral blood. Monocytes, i.e. CD14(+) cells also have the ability to differentiate into endothelial-like cells and are by far more abundant in peripheral blood than are CD34(+) EPC. Therefore, CD14(+) cells would seem appropriate candidates for tissue engineering of small-diameter blood vessels. In this study, we investigated the differentiation of CD14(+) cells on three biodegradable biomaterials under angiogenic conditions. Morphological analyses, gene transcript analyses, endothelial marker (i.e. VE-Cadherin and eNOS) and macrophage marker (i.e. CD68 and CD163) expression analyses, revealed that a small fraction (15-25%) of cultured CD14(+) cells differentiated into macrophages after 21 days of culture. The majority of CD14(+) cells (>75%) differentiated into endothelial-like cells (ELC) on all biomaterials used. The expression of endothelial markers was similar to their expression on HUVEC. Since CD14(+) cells are present in high numbers in adult peripheral blood, easy to isolate and because they easily differentiate into ELC on biomaterials, we conclude that CD14(+) cells are a suitable cell source for progenitor-based vascular tissue engineering.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University Medical Center Groningen, Medical Biology Section, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands. g.krenning@med.umcg.nl
authors.forename: Guido
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Krenning
authors.forename: Patricia Y W
authors.initials: PY
authors.lastname: Dankers
authors.forename: Danijela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jovanovic
authors.forename: Marja J A
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: van Luyn
authors.forename: Martin C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Harmsen
mesh_terms: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D018950:Lipopolysaccharide Receptors / Q000378:metabolism*; D009000:Monocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D018950:Lipopolysaccharide Receptors