title: Evidence of a sophisticatedly heterogeneous population of human umbilical vein endothelial cells.
abstract: Induction and promotion of angiogenesis play a role in a diverse range of physiologic and pathophysiologic processes that are especially relevant to the field of regenerative medicine. For assessing vasculogenesis and neo-angiogenesis, identifying angiogenic factors, angiocrine factors, and vascular niche, facilitating tissue-repair and tumor growth, efficiently generating induced pluripotent stem cells, and coculturing with organ-specific stem cells, isolation and characterization of the subpopulation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and their endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are needed. In this study, primary HUVECs were collected from fresh umbilical cords and fractionated and characterized with the use of flow cytometry. Clonal colony assay showed that endothelial colony-forming units in culture frequently existed in fresh HUVECs. Antigenic profiling demonstrated that undifferentiated EPCs in HUVECs had normal endothelial marker CD31 with a subpopulation of cells positive for hematopoietic stem cell marker CD34 and c-Kit. With continuing passages, EPC markers CD34 and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 expression decreased dramatically. Moreover, a distinct subpopulation with different proliferative capability and angiogenesis from the early-passage HUVECs was shown. In conclusion, it is possible to isolate accurately and to enrich EPCs or hematoangioblast-like cells from a heterogeneous population of HUVECs, and to explore the differential process with flow cytometry for further investigations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Regenerative Medicine, Yokohama City University School of Medicine, Yokohama, Japan.
authors.forename: Y-W
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Regenerative Medicine, Yokohama City University School of Medicine, Yokohama, Japan.
authors.forename: Y-Z
authors.initials: YZ
authors.lastname: Nie
authors.affiliation: Department of Regenerative Medicine, Yokohama City University School of Medicine, Yokohama, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tsuchida
authors.affiliation: Department of Regenerative Medicine, Yokohama City University School of Medicine, Yokohama, Japan.
authors.forename: R-R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Medical Course, Yokohama City University School of Medicine, Yokohama, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Aoki
authors.affiliation: Department of Regenerative Medicine, Yokohama City University School of Medicine, Yokohama, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sekine
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Yokohama City University School of Medicine, Yokohama, Japan.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ogawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Regenerative Medicine, Yokohama City University School of Medicine, Yokohama, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takebe
authors.affiliation: Department of Regenerative Medicine, Yokohama City University School of Medicine, Yokohama, Japan.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ueno
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Yokohama City University School of Medicine, Yokohama, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sakakibara
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Yokohama City University School of Medicine, Yokohama, Japan.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hirahara
authors.affiliation: Department of Regenerative Medicine, Yokohama City University School of Medicine, Yokohama, Japan. Electronic address: rtanigu@med.yokohama-cu.ac.jp.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Taniguchi
mesh_terms: D018952:Antigens, CD34 / Q000378:metabolism; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002469:Cell Separation / Q000379:methods; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D061307:Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D018919:Neovascularization, Physiologic; D010641:Phenotype; D019408:Platelet Endothelial Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 / Q000378:metabolism; D019009:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit / Q000378:metabolism; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D040301:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-2 / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D018952:Antigens, CD34; D015415:Biomarkers; D019408:Platelet Endothelial Cell Adhesion Molecule-1; C000588866:KDR protein, human; D019009:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit; D040301:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-2