title: Correlation between increased circulating endothelial progenitor cells and stage of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
abstract: This study aims to examine the levels of circulating endothelial progenitor cells (cEPCs) in the peripheral blood of patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and their correlation with the tumor stage. Forty-one patients with biopsy-proven NHL and 16 healthy individuals were recruited. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated by density gradient centrifugation, and cEPCs were characterized by triple staining using antibodies against CD133, CD34 and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 (VEGFR-2, CD309) and quantified by flow cytometry. In NHL patients, the number of cEPCs was significantly greater than in control group (P=0.000). The cEPCs counts in patients with NHL of stage III-IV were significantly greater than in stage I-II (P=0.010). FACS analysis revealed that the number of cEPCs in NHL patients had no correlation with the gender (P=0.401) or the pathological category (P=0.852). It was suggested that the over-expression of cEPCs in NHL patients may serve as a novel biomarker for disease progression in NHL.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Center, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China.
authors.forename: Dan-Dan
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Cancer Center, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China.
authors.forename: Hong-Li
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Cancer Center, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China.
authors.forename: Yun-Lin
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.affiliation: Cancer Center, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China.
authors.forename: Bian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Cancer Center, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China.
authors.forename: Wei-Hong
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Cancer Center, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China.
authors.forename: Jing-Hua
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Cancer Center, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Cancer Center, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China. yangky71@yahoo.com.cn.
authors.forename: Kun-Yu
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Cancer Center, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China. wugangzr@yahoo.com.cn.
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D001772:Blood Cell Count; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D009360:Neoplastic Cells, Circulating / Q000473:pathology*; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000473:pathology*