title: A new protocol for quantifying CD34(+) cells in peripheral blood of patients with cardiovascular disease.
abstract: Increasing evidence points to a role for circulating CD34-positive (CD34(+)) cells in vascular maintenance and neovascularization. Although there are established methods for evaluating absolute numbers of CD34(+) cells in bone marrow or mobilized peripheral blood, there is no convenient and highly reproducible method for quantifying low numbers of CD34(+) cells in blood samples, such as those from the peripheral blood of patients with cardiovascular disease. With current commonly used methods, the mean percentage of CD34(+) cells in leukocyte fractions from such patients was only 0.02%, and the cumulative intra-assay coefficient of variation was approximately 30%. With use of the protocol described herein, actual counts of CD34(+) cells increased approximately 5-fold and cumulative intra-assay coefficients of variation were reduced to approximately 7%. The new method is useful to precisely measure low numbers of CD34(+) cells in samples, and it has potential as a screening tool to evaluate cardiovascular risk in large patient populations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Laboratory, National Hospital Organization, Osaka Minami Medical Center, Osaka 586-8521, Japan.
authors.forename: Akie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kikuchi-Taura
authors.forename: Toshihiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Soma
authors.forename: Tomohiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsuyama
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Stern
authors.forename: Akihiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Taguchi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D018952:Antigens, CD34; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000097:blood*; D002985:Clinical Protocols; D005260:Female; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D006801:Humans; D007958:Leukocyte Count / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000097:blood*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D018952:Antigens, CD34