Cardiogenic potential of endothelial progenitor cells

Transplantation of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are one of the promising strategies to recover the capillary flow in ischaemic diseases such as ischaemic heart disease and peripheral artery disease (PAD) in the leg. However, our previous and another group's works suggested the scarcity of the number of EPCs in peripheral blood might cause insufficient effect for the ischaemic diseases. There are several strategies to overcome this issue, such as (1) in vivo EPC expansion; (2) ex vivo EPC expansion; (3) local (not systemic) EPC injection; and (4) modification of EPC by gene transfer. Recent publications from our own and other groups have reported the possibility of cardiogenic potential of EPCs. We would like to focus on the strategies of EPC transplantation and cardiomyogenesis of EPCs in this review.