CD144, CD146 and VEGFR-2 properly identify circulating endothelial cell

Area of Science:

• Immunology
• Cell Biology
• Hematology

Background:

• Circulating endothelial cells (CECs) are rare in peripheral blood, representing only 0.01% of mononuclear cells.
• Lack of consensus exists regarding optimal monoclonal antibody panels for CEC identification via flow cytometry.
• The rarity of CECs poses a significant challenge for accurate detection and analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose effective marker combinations for the safe and accurate identification of CECs.
• To address the challenges in CEC detection due to their low frequency.
• To establish reliable methods for CEC enumeration in peripheral blood.

Main Methods:

• Flow cytometry was employed to analyze CECs.
• Three distinct antibody panels were utilized, incorporating markers such as CD144, CD146, CD31, CD133, CD45, and anti-VEGFR2.
• The study focused on optimizing marker combinations for CEC identification.

Main Results:

• Despite their rarity, CECs were successfully detected using the developed panels.
• Consistent inter-person numbers of CECs were observed.
• The applied panels demonstrated the detectability of these rare cells.

Conclusions:

• The proposed marker combinations reliably identified CECs in healthy individuals.
• Validation using three different antibody panels confirmed the robustness of the findings.
• The study provides a reliable method for CEC identification and enumeration.