Comparative analysis of cultured endothelial progenitor cells in vitro from PBMCs and enriched CD133~+ cells / 中国病理生理杂志

ABSTRACT

AIM: To compare the methods of two currently employed isolation methods for endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) from total peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and from enriched CD133~+ cells, by defining the cell morphology, phenotype, reproductive activities and function in vitro, providing a reference for clinic application. METHODS: PBMCs from the healthy subjects were used for CD133~+ sorting or not. The two groups of isolated cells were suspended in complete medium M199 for 7 d to 14 d. EPCs phenotype were characterized by FACS. The proliferation of differentiated EPCs was studied by MTT assay, and VEGF concentration was measured using an ELISA kit. Matrigel experiment and migration assay were imitated vascularization in vivo. RESULTS: PBMCs produced more colony-forming units (CFU) than CD133~+ cells from the same volume of blood (P<0.01). From 7 d to 14 d, the two groups show decreased expression of hematopoietic stem cell markers and increased level of endothelial markers, but CD144~+ cells in CD133~+ group were lower than those in PBMCs groups (P<0.01). Cells in PBMCs group secreted more VEGF than that in CD133~+ group on 7 d (P<0.01). Compared to CD133~+ group, PBMCs group showed more potential of proliferation and vascularization in vitro. CONCLUSION: CD133~+ sorted cells show a lower capacity of differentiation, secretion, proliferation and vascularization in vitro, which is unable to differentiate to mature endothelial cells, indicating that it's not a preferential way to obtain EPCs for clinic therapy.