PLoS ONE (Jan 2013)

Endothelial progenitor cells in the pathogenesis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: an evolving concept.

  • Foteini Malli,
  • Angela Koutsokera,
  • Efrosini Paraskeva,
  • Epaminondas Zakynthinos,
  • Maria Papagianni,
  • Dimosthenes Makris,
  • Irene Tsilioni,
  • Paschalis Adam Molyvdas,
  • Konstantinos I Gourgoulianis,
  • Zoe Daniil

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0053658
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8, no. 1
p. e53658

Abstract

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BackgroundIdiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) has been associated with abnormal vascular remodeling. Bone marrow derived endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are considered to possess lung tissue repair and vascular remodeling properties.ObjectivesThe study aimed to assess early EPCs levels and EPCs endogenous vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression in IPF. In order to examine alterations in the mobilization of EPCs from the bone marrow we measured plasma VEGF.Main resultsTwenty-three patients with IPF and fifteen healthy subjects were included. The number of early EPCs colonies was markedly reduced in IPF patients vs controls (6.00±6.49 vs 49.68±16.73, respectively, pConclusionsThe current data suggest that inadequate levels of early EPCs may potentially contribute to suppressed repair and recovery of the damaged pulmonary endothelium and thereby may drive the sequence of events in profibrogenic direction. Increased VEGFmRNA levels in the clinical context of IPF may represent a compensatory mechanism to overcome reduced EPCs levels.