Endothelial Colony-forming Progenitor Cells: Identification, Isolation, Expansion and Potential Use for Regenerative Cell Therapy

Abstract

Regenerative medicine is an emerging therapeutic approach which is based on the clinical application of adult stem cells for the repair of organs after toxic, metabolic or ischemic organ injury. Upcoming therapeutic options in regenerative medicine will bring profound challenges for the field of transfusion medicine with regards to new technologies in cell or tissue manipulation and multidisciplinary clinical efforts. In cooperation with hematologists, the teams at trans­fusion medicine departments have been concerned with the identification, isolation and storage of hematopoietic progenitor cells for therapeutic application since more than 20 years. A crucial factor for the successful regeneration of organs after damage due to non-neoplastic reasons is the reconstitution of the functional vascular situation providing sufficient blood perfusion of the target tissues. For this reason clinical research has increasingly focused at circulating endothelial progenitor cells since 15 years. This short article introduces recent findings on “endo­thelial colony-forming progenitor cells (ECFC)” highlighting the role of central actors in post­natal neo-vasculogenesis.