Journal
MOLECULAR MEDICINE REPORTS
Volume 17, Issue 1, Pages 1667-1675Publisher
SPANDIDOS PUBL LTD
DOI: 10.3892/mmr.2017.8059
Keywords
endothelial progenitor cells; mesenchymal stem cells; endothelial cells; differentiation; vascular endothelial growth factor
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Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [31271458]
- Science and Technology Program of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps [2014AB047]
- Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars
- Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of the People's Republic of China [RSLX201201]
- Shihezi University Youth Science and Technology Research and Development Program, Basis and Application Research Project [20142RKXYQ20]
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Stem cell therapy is a promising treatment strategy for ischemic diseases. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) adhere to each other in the bone marrow cavity and in in vitro cultures. We have previously demonstrated that the adhesion between MSCs and EPCs is critical for MSC self-renewal and their multi-differentiation into osteoblasts and chondrocytes. In the present study, the influence of the indirect communication between EPCs and MSCs on the endothelial differentiation potential of EPCs was investigated, and the molecular mechanisms underlying MSC-mediated EPC differentiation were explored. The effects of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which is secreted by MSCs, on EPC differentiation via paracrine mechanisms were examined via co-culturing MSCs and EPCs. Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blot analysis were used to detect the expression of genes and proteins of interest. The present results demonstrated that co-culturing EPCs with MSCs enhanced the expression of cluster of differentiation 31 and von Willebrand factor, which are specific markers of an endothelial phenotype, thus indicating that MSCs may influence the endothelial differentiation of EPCs in vitro. VEGF appeared to be critical to this process. These findings are important for the understanding of the biological interactions between MSCs and EPCs, and for the development of applications of stem cell-based therapy in the treatment of ischemic diseases.
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