Skip Navigation


European Heart Journal Advance Access originally published online on January 12, 2008
European Heart Journal 2008 29(3):332-338; doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehm602
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
29/3/332    most recent
ehm602v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Whittaker, A.
Right arrow Articles by Samani, N. J.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Whittaker, A.
Right arrow Articles by Samani, N. J.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. © The Author 2008. For permissions please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Evidence for genetic regulation of endothelial progenitor cells and their role as biological markers of atherosclerotic susceptibility

Andrew Whittaker, Jasbir S. Moore, Mariuca Vasa-Nicotera, Suzanne Stevens and Nilesh J. Samani*

Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Leicester, Clinical Sciences Wing, Glenfield Hospital, Groby Road, Leicester LE3 9QP, UK

Received 23 April 2007; revised 28 November 2007; accepted 6 December 2007; online publish-ahead-of-print 2 January 2008.

*Corresponding author. Tel: + 44 116 256 3021, Fax: + 44 116 287 5792, Email: njs{at}le.ac.uk

Aims: Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are found in the peripheral circulation and are capable of endothelial repair and neovascularization. EPC number and function are reduced in subjects with cardiovascular risk factors or proven coronary artery disease (CAD). We hypothesized that EPC number and/or function may be genetically regulated and may vary in healthy adult offspring depending on parental history of CAD.

Methods and results: We studied 102 subjects comprising 24 healthy parent–healthy offspring pairs and 27 CAD parent–healthy offspring pairs. We measured the number of circulating CD34+VEGFR-2+ and AC133+VEGFR-2+ EPCs, the number of EPCs grown in culture, and the migration capacity of cultured EPCs towards vascular endothelial growth factor. There was significant correlation in the number of cultured EPCs between healthy parents and their offspring (R = 0.492, P = 0.015) and CAD parents and their offspring (R = 0.751, P < 0.001). Offspring of subjects with CAD had significantly higher numbers of circulating CD34+VEGFR-2+ and AC133+VEGFR-2+ cells (P = 0.018 and P < 0.001, respectively). There was no difference in migration capacity between groups.

Conclusion: Our results suggest that EPC number is, at least in part, genetically regulated. Circulating EPCs may represent biological markers of occult vascular damage in offspring with hereditary risk of CAD.

Key Words: Endothelial progenitor cells • Coronary artery disease • Heritability • Biological markers • Atherosclerosis


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Therapeutic Advances in Cardiovascular DiseaseHome page
T. J. Povsic and P. J. Goldschmidt-Clermont
Review: Endothelial progenitor cells: markers of vascular reparative capacity
Therapeutic Advances in Cardiovascular Disease, June 1, 2008; 2(3): 199 - 213.
[Abstract] [PDF]


Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.