title: Differentiation of pluripotent stem cells into endothelial cells.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Methods to isolate endothelial cells from murine and human pluripotent stem cells continue to evolve and increasingly diverse endothelial cell populations have been generated. This review provides an update of key articles published within the past year that report on some of those advances.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Cooperative interactions among microRNA (miRNA), transcription factors and some downstream interacting proteins have been reported to enhance endothelial specification from embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Endothelial cell differentiation can also be modulated by various growth factor additions, Notch pathway activation or inhibition, and modulation of the microenvironment of the differentiating ESC and iPSC. Functionality of the derived endothelium has been demonstrated by a variety of in-vitro and in-vivo assays. Finally, two recent reports have identified endothelial progenitor populations with robust proliferative potential.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Progress in differentiating endothelial cells from ESC and iPSC has been made. The recent report of formation of endothelial colony forming cells from human ESC and iPSC provides a protocol that can generate clinically relevant numbers of cells for human cell therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.
authors.forename: Mervin C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Yoder
mesh_terms: D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D039904:Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*