Endothelial colony-forming progenitor cell isolation and expansion

Methods Mol Biol. 2012:879:381-7. doi: 10.1007/978-1-61779-815-3_23.

Abstract

Vessel wall-derived somatic endothelial colony-forming progenitor cells (ECFCs) are key players in vascular homeostasis and regeneration. Due to their robust proliferative potential and profound vessel-forming capacity, ECFCs are considered to represent an attractive tool for vascular regenerative medicine and a promising target for antiangiogenic tumor therapy. Here, we describe an easily applicable method for isolating ECFCs directly from unmanipulated adult human blood and an animal protein-free large-scale expansion system to generate more than 100 million functional ECFCs.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cell Proliferation
  • Cell Separation*
  • Endothelial Cells / cytology*
  • Humans
  • Stem Cells / cytology*