title: Circulating endothelial progenitor cell: a promising biomarker in clinical oncology.
abstract: Human cancers are endowed with sustained vascularization capability, and their growth, invasion, and metastasis are vascularization dependent. Recently, accumulated body of evidence suggests that endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) can support vasculogenesis and induce angiogenesis through paracrine mechanisms. In addition, numerous clinical studies have revealed the increase in the number of EPCs in the peripheral blood of cancer patients and demonstrated the correlation of circulating EPCs (CEPCs) with the clinical outcomes. This review highlights current enrichment procedures and methods for the detection of CEPCs and different biomarkers to identify CEPCs as well as the functions of EPCs in tumor vascularization. Furthermore, we systematically review available studies on the clinical relevance of CEPCs in cancer patients to explore the potential diagnostic and prognostic values of CEPCs. Although several contrasting results exist, CEPCs can conceivably serve as a promising biomarker for the early diagnosis, prognosis prediction, and treatment response indication in the future. Additionally, further well-designed clinical studies with larger sample size and unique, specific enumeration procedures are warranted to achieve further insight into the clinical implications of CEPCs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, 68 Changle Road, Nanjing, 210006, China.
authors.forename: Yu-Zheng
authors.initials: YZ
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.forename: Ran
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Tian-Ze
authors.initials: TZ
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xin
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Zheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Lu-Wei
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Jiang-Wei
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Liu-Hua
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Wen-Cheng
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jia-Geng
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Rui-Peng
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Jia
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D066026:Endothelial Progenitor Cells; D006801:Humans; D008495:Medical Oncology / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000097:blood*; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor