Advance in study on endothelial colony-forming cells / 中南大学学报(医学版)

ABSTRACT

Endothelial colony-forming cells (ECFCs), different from classical endothelial progenitor cells, are late endothelial progenitor cells with the capability to promote angiogenesis. Recent studies showed that ECFCs have a huge angiogenesis potential in the restoration of ischemic hearts, lungs or brains. They are also able to induce the expression of vascular related factor to promote angiogenesis in repair of limb ischemia or bone injury. Furthermore, ECFCs possess a strong homing effect for tumor, which is closely related to tumor occurrence, development and prognosis. Thus, ECFCs are a novel direction for vascular regeneration study, and may lead to ground-breaking progresses in fields of tissue regeneration and tumor.