Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Jul 20;9(7):1731.
doi: 10.3390/cells9071731.

The Functionality of Endothelial-Colony-Forming Cells from Patients with Diabetes Mellitus

Caomhán J Lyons  1 , Timothy O'Brien  1
Affiliations
Review

The Functionality of Endothelial-Colony-Forming Cells from Patients with Diabetes Mellitus

Caomhán J Lyons et al. Cells. .

Abstract

Endothelial-colony-forming cells (ECFCs) are a population of progenitor cells which have demonstrated promising angiogenic potential both in vitro and in vivo. However, ECFCs from diabetic patients have been shown to be dysfunctional compared to ECFCs from healthy donors. Diabetes mellitus itself presents with many vascular co-morbidities and it has been hypothesized that ECFCs may be a potential cell therapy option to promote revascularisation in these disorders. While an allogeneic cell therapy approach would offer the potential of an 'off the shelf' therapeutic product, to date little research has been carried out on umbilical cord-ECFCs in diabetic models. Alternatively, autologous cell therapy using peripheral blood-ECFCs allows the development of a personalised therapeutic approach to medicine; however, autologous diabetic ECFCs are dysfunctional and need to be repaired so they can effectively treat diabetic co-morbidities. Many different groups have modified autologous diabetic ECFCs to improve their function using a variety of methods including pre-treatment with different factors or with genetic modification. While the in vitro and in vivo data from the literature is promising, no ECFC therapy has proceeded to clinical trials to date, indicating that more research is needed for a potential ECFC therapy in the future to treat diabetic complications.

Keywords: cell modification; diabetes; disease-related cell dysfunction; endothelial colony forming cells.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Morphology of endothelial-colony-forming cells (ECFCs) and their ability to form tubes. A = cobblestone morphology of ECFC colonies. B = In vitro tubulogenesis assay showing the ability of ECFCs to form a network of tubes. Scale bar = 500 µm.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Mechanisms promoting diabetes mellitus (DM) related ECFC dysfunction. AGEs = advanced glycation end-products, NO = nitric oxide, RAGEs = receptor for advanced glycation end-products, ROS = reactive oxygen species.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Asahara T., Murohara T., Sullivan A., Silver M., Van der Zee R., Li T., Witzenbichler B., Schatteman G., Isner J.M. Isolation of putative progenitor endothelial cells for angiogenesis. Science. 1997;275:964–967. doi: 10.1126/science.275.5302.964. - DOI - PubMed
    1. D’Avola D., Fernández-Ruiz V., Carmona-Torre F., Méndez M., Pérez-Calvo J., Prósper F., Andreu E., Herrero J.I., Iñarrairaegui M., Fuertes C., et al. Phase 1-2 pilot clinical trial in patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis treated with bone marrow-derived endothelial progenitor cells. Transl. Res. 2017;188:80–91.e2. doi: 10.1016/j.trsl.2016.02.009. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Lara-Hernandez R., Lozano-Vilardell P., Blanes P., Torreguitart-Mirada N., Galmés A., Besalduch J. Safety and efficacy of therapeutic angiogenesis as a novel treatment in patients with critical limb ischemia. Ann. Vasc. Surg. 2010;24:287–294. doi: 10.1016/j.avsg.2009.10.012. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Tanaka R., Masuda H., Kato S., Imagawa K., Kanabuchi K., Nakashioya C., Yoshiba F., Fukui T., Ito R., Kobori M., et al. Autologous G-CSF-Mobilized Peripheral Blood CD34 + Cell Therapy for Diabetic Patients with Chronic Nonhealing Ulcer. Cell Transplant. 2014;23:167–179. doi: 10.3727/096368912X658007. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Zhu J.H., Wang X.X., Zhang F.R., Shang Y.P., Tao Q.M., Zhu J.H., Chen J.Z. Safety and efficacy of autologous endothelial progenitor cells transplantation in children with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension: Open-label pilot study. Pediatr. Transplant. 2008;12:650–655. doi: 10.1111/j.1399-3046.2007.00863.x. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types