title: Endothelial progenitor cells in cardiovascular diseases: from biomarker to therapeutic agent.
abstract: Regenerative medicine techniques to recover cardiac and vascular function are being increasingly investigated as management strategies for cardiovascular diseases. Circulating endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) derived from bone marrow are immature cells capable of differentiating into mature endothelial cells and play a role in vascular reparative processes and neoangiogenesis. The potency of EPCs for cardiovascular regeneration has been demonstrated in many preclinical studies and therapeutic utility of EPCs has been evaluated in early-phase clinical trials. However, the regenerative activity and efficiency of the differentiation of EPCs are still limited, and a directed differentiation method for EPCs cells has not been fully demonstrated. In this review, we introduce the role of circulating EPCs as biomarkers of cardiovascular diseases and medical applications of EPCs for cardiovascular regeneration.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Clinical Pharmacy and Cardiology, the 2nd Affiliated Hospital, Harbin Medical University, The Key Laboratory of Myocardial Ischemia, Chinese Ministry of Education, Harbin, 150086 P.R. China.
authors.forename: Hui-Bin
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Departments of Clinical Pharmacy and Cardiology, the 2nd Affiliated Hospital, Harbin Medical University, The Key Laboratory of Myocardial Ischemia, Chinese Ministry of Education, Harbin, 150086 P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yuan-Feng
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.affiliation: Departments of Clinical Pharmacy and Cardiology, the 2nd Affiliated Hospital, Harbin Medical University, The Key Laboratory of Myocardial Ischemia, Chinese Ministry of Education, Harbin, 150086 P.R. China.
authors.forename: Chang-Jiang
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Departments of Clinical Pharmacy and Cardiology, the 2nd Affiliated Hospital, Harbin Medical University, The Key Laboratory of Myocardial Ischemia, Chinese Ministry of Education, Harbin, 150086 P.R. China.
authors.forename: Ying-Ying
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Departments of Clinical Pharmacy and Cardiology, the 2nd Affiliated Hospital, Harbin Medical University, The Key Laboratory of Myocardial Ischemia, Chinese Ministry of Education, Harbin, 150086 P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xin-Yuan
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Departments of Clinical Pharmacy and Cardiology, the 2nd Affiliated Hospital, Harbin Medical University, The Key Laboratory of Myocardial Ischemia, Chinese Ministry of Education, Harbin, 150086 P.R. China.
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Departments of Clinical Pharmacy and Cardiology, the 2nd Affiliated Hospital, Harbin Medical University, The Key Laboratory of Myocardial Ischemia, Chinese Ministry of Education, Harbin, 150086 P.R. China.
authors.forename: Zhi-Ren
authors.initials: ZR
authors.lastname: Zhang
keywords: Biomarkers; Cardiovascular regeneration; Endothelial progenitor cells