ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To compare circulating endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) number between normal controls and patients with coronary heart diseases (CHD), and to explore the influence of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) on the number of EPCs in patients with CHD.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A total of 48 hospitalized patients with CHD were enrolled and divided into three groups, including stable angina pectoris (SAP) group, unstable angina pectoris (UA) group, acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) group. Patients with normal coronary angiography served as controls. The percentage of EPCs in peripheral blood nucleated cells was measured at admission and immediately after and 24 hours after PCI in CHD patients by double-color flow cytometry analysis. EPCs were identified with CD133(+)/VEGFR-2(+).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>At admission, the percentage of EPCs in peripheral blood nucleated cells was significantly lower in SAP group (0.043% +/- 0.043%), UA group (0.014% +/- 0.018%) and STEMI group (0.040% +/- 0.036%)than that in the control group (0.111% +/- 0.078%, all P < 0.01). The number of EPCs in UA group was significantly lower than that in the SAP group (P < 0.05). In the UA group, the number of EPCs at 24 hours after PCI (0.054% +/- 0.045%) was significantly higher than before operation (0.014% +/- 0.018%, P < 0.01) and tended to be higher than the value immediately after PCI (0.028% +/- 0.041%, P > 0.05). The before and after PCI EPCs numbers were similar in SAP and STEMI groups (all P > 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The number of peripheral EPCs in patients with CHD is lower than that in normal subjects and negatively related with severity of coronary heart disease. The number of circulating EPCs increased post PCI in patients with unstable angina pectoris.</p>