Circulating endothelial cells: a new biomarker of endothelial dysfunction in hematological diseases

The endothelium and its integrity are in the center of numerous cardiovascular, pulmonary and tumoral diseases. Several studies identified different circulating cellular sub-populations, which allow a noninvasive exploration of endothelial dysfunction. Furthermore, angiogenesis plays a major role in the biology of benign and malignant hematologic diseases. Among these biomarkers, circulating endothelial cells could be considered as a marker of endothelial injury and/or endothelial activation as well as vascular remodeling, whereas circulating endothelial progenitor cells would be only involved in the vascular regeneration. In the future, the quantification of circulating endothelial cells in many diseases could be a noninvasive biomarker used in diagnosis, prognostic and therapeutic follow-up of lung vasculopathy and/or residual disease of hematological malignancies.