title: The real face of endothelial progenitor cells - Circulating angiogenic cells as endothelial prognostic marker?
abstract: Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) have been extensively studied for almost 19 years now and were considered as a potential marker for endothelial regeneration ability. On the other hand, circulating endothelial cells (CEC) were studied as biomarker for endothelial injury. Yet, in the literature, there is also huge incoherency in regards to terminology and protocols used. This results in misleading conclusions on the role of so called "EPCs", especially in the clinical field. The discrepancies are mainly due to strong phenotypic overlap between EPCs and circulating angiogenic cells (CAC), therefore changes in "EPC" terminology have been suggested. Other factors leading to inconsistent results are varied definitions of the studied populations and the lack of universal data reporting, which could strongly affect data interpretation. The current review is focused on controversies concerning the use of "EPCs"/CAC and CEC as putative endothelial diagnostic markers.
authors: Department of Medical Biotechnology, Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland.
authors: Neli
authors: N
authors: Kachamakova-Trojanowska
authors: Department of Medical Biotechnology, Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland.
authors: Karolina
authors: K
authors: Bukowska-Strakova
authors: Department of Medical Biotechnology, Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland.
authors: Monika
authors: M
authors: Zukowska
authors: Department of Medical Biotechnology, Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland.
authors: Jozef
authors: J
authors: Dulak
authors: Department of Medical Biotechnology, Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland. Electronic address: alicja.jozkowicz@uj.edu.pl.
authors: Alicja
authors: A
authors: Jozkowicz
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology; D066026:Endothelial Progenitor Cells / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis; D011379:Prognosis
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers
keywords: Angiogenesis; Cardiovascular diseases; Endothelial progenitor cells; Ischemia; Pro-angiogenic monocytes