Journal
STEM CELLS TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE
Volume 11, Issue 5, Pages 451-460Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/stcltm/szac010
Keywords
coronary artery disease; endothelial progenitor cells; percutaneous coronary intervention; prognosis
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This review provides an update on the role of EPCs in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), discussing their association with cardiovascular risk factors, coronary atherosclerosis, myocardial ischemia, and their potential effects in post-PCI in-stent restenosis. EPCs are emerging as novel predictive biomarkers of long-term outcomes in CAD patients.
Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are a heterogeneous group of cells present in peripheral blood at various stages of endothelial differentiation. EPCs have been extensively investigated in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), with controversial findings both on their role in atherosclerosis progression and in the process of neointimal growth after a percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Despite nearly 2 decades of experimental and clinical investigations, however, the significance of EPCs in clinical practice remains unclear and poorly understood. This review provides an update on the role of EPCs in the most common clinical scenarios that are experienced by cardiologists managing patients with CAD. We here summarize the main findings on the association of EPCs with cardiovascular risk factors, coronary atherosclerosis, and myocardial ischemia. We then discuss the potential effects of EPCs in post-PCI in-stent restenosis, as well as most recent findings with EPC-coated stents. Based on the mounting evidence of the relationship between levels of EPCs and several different adverse cardiovascular events, EPCs are emerging as novel predictive biomarkers of long-term outcomes in patients with CAD.
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