Transplantation of Endothelial Progenitor Cells: Summary and prospect

Endothelial Progenitor Cells (EPCs) are precursor cells of endothelial cells (ECs), which can differentiate into vascular ECs, protect from endothelial dysfunction and tissue ischemia, and reduce vascular hyperplasia. Due to these functions, EPCs are used as a candidate cell source for transplantation strategies. In recent years, a great progress was achieved in EPCs biology research, and EPCs transplantation has become a research hotspot. At present, transplanted EPCs have been used to treat ischemic diseases due to their powerful vasculogenesis and beneficial paracrine effects. Although EPCs transplantation has been proved to play an important role, the clinical application of EPCs still faces many challenges. This review briefly summarized the basic characteristics of EPCs, the process of EPCs transplantation promoting the healing of ischemic tissue, and the ways to improve the efficiency of EPCs transplantation. In addition, the application of EPCs in neurological improvement, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and the challenges and problems in clinical application of EPCs were also discussed. In the end, the application of EPCs transplantation in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering was discussed.