Endothelial progenitor cell culture for vascular regeneration

A certain population of mononuclear cells in the peripheral blood is capable of contributing to new vessel formation by differentiating into endothelial cells. The basis for native as well as therapeutic neovascularization is not restricted to angiogenesis but includes postnatal vasculogenesis. These cells were discovered by Asahara in 1997 and named endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs). Clinical usefulness of EPCs from human peripheral blood is also suggested in the animal experiments. These results indicate that administering EPCs can be a new clinical strategy for treating ischemic disease, diabetic retinopathy, or neoplasm in which the promotion or inhibition of neovascular formation is critical. However, expansion of EPCs ex vivo is not currently suitable for the clinical setting because of the animal products that are necessary for EPC expansion. To approach the autologous cell-based clinical application of EPCs, we established EPC culture using auto serum. In this article, we will discuss the sources that can generate EPCs and show the usefulness and potential of EPC culture using auto serum in the basic and clinical setting of neovascular formation.