title: Monitoring of endothelial dysfunction in critically ill patients: the role of endothelial progenitor cells.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This review provides an overview of sepsis as a prototypical critical illness and discusses the role of the endothelium in the pathophysiology of sepsis and sepsis-related organ dysfunction, the characterization and functions of endothelial progenitor cells, and investigates these cells both as a prognostic and therapeutic strategy in critically ill patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sepsis continues to be a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Preclinical and clinical sepsis studies have shown that the acute systemic inflammatory and procoagulant response results in structural and functional alterations in the endothelium, which may lead to organ failure and ultimately, death. In the last decade, the concept of postnatal vasculogenesis has been revolutionized to include angiogenesis by mature endothelial cells and vasculogenesis by endothelial progenitor cells. These cells are recruited from the bone marrow to areas of endothelial injury, at which point they differentiate and promote revascularization of the endothelium, which has been shown to have significant prognostic and therapeutic implications in a variety of ischemic vascular disorders.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Circulating endothelial progenitor cells may be an important mechanism of vascular repair, and thus shows significant promise for prognostic and therapeutic strategies in critical illness, namely sepsis and sepsis-related organ dysfunction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, USA. skomaku@emory.edu
authors.forename: Sushma K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Cribbs
authors.forename: Greg S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Mauricio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rojas
mesh_terms: D016638:Critical Illness; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000166:cytology / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000379:methods*; D018805:Sepsis / Q000503:physiopathology; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology