title: Endothelial progenitor cells in ischemic stroke: an exploration from hypothesis to therapy.
abstract: As the population ages and lifestyles change in concordance, the number of patients suffering from ischemic stroke and its associated disabilities is increasing. Studies on determining the relationship between endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) and ischemic stroke have become a new hot spot and have reported that EPCs may protect the brain against ischemic injury, promote neurovascular repair, and improve long-term neurobehavioral outcomes. More importantly, they introduce a new perspective for prognosis assessment and therapy of ischemic stroke. However, EPCs' origin, function, influence factors, injury repair mechanisms, and cell-based therapy strategies remain controversial. Particularly, research conducted to date has less clinical studies than pre-clinical experiments on animals. In this review, we summarized and analyzed the current understanding of basic characteristics, influence factors, functions, therapeutic strategies, and disadvantages of EPCs as well as the regulation of inflammatory factors involved in the function and survival of EPCs after ischemic stroke. Identifying potential therapeutic effects of EPCs in ischemic stroke will be a challenging but an incredibly important breakthrough in neurology, which may bring promise for patients with ischemic stroke.
authors.affiliation: Centers for Metabolic Disease Research, Cardiovascular Research, and Thrombosis Research, Department of Pharmacology, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, 19140, USA. dr.yafengli@gmail.com.|Department of Nephrology and Hemodialysis Center, The Second Hospital, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, 030001, China. dr.yafengli@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ya-Feng
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: The First Clinical Medical College, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, 030001, China. renlina1206@163.com.
authors.forename: Li-Na
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, The First Hospital, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, 030001, China. guogeng973@163.com.
authors.forename: Geng
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Centers for Metabolic Disease Research, Cardiovascular Research, and Thrombosis Research, Department of Pharmacology, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, 19140, USA. tuf72611@temple.edu.
authors.forename: Lee Anne
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Cannella
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, College of Science and Technology, Temple University, 1801 N. Broad St., Philadelphia, PA, 19122, USA. tue68640@temple.edu.
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Chernaya
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, College of Science and Technology, Temple University, 1801 N. Broad St., Philadelphia, PA, 19122, USA. tue50351@temple.edu.
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Samuel
authors.affiliation: Centers for Metabolic Disease Research, Cardiovascular Research, and Thrombosis Research, Department of Pharmacology, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, 19140, USA. suxuan.liu@temple.edu.
authors.forename: Su-Xuan
authors.initials: SX
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Centers for Metabolic Disease Research, Cardiovascular Research, and Thrombosis Research, Department of Pharmacology, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, 19140, USA. hongw@temple.edu.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Centers for Metabolic Disease Research, Cardiovascular Research, and Thrombosis Research, Department of Pharmacology, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, 19140, USA. xfyang@temple.edu.
authors.forename: Xiao-Feng
authors.initials: XF
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D066026:Endothelial Progenitor Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D020521:Stroke / Q000097:blood*