CD34-positive stem cells: in the treatment of heart and vascular disease in human beings.

ABSTRACT: Bone marrow-derived CD34(+) cells are a well-characterized population of stem cells that have traditionally been used clinically to reconstitute the hematopoietic system after radiation or chemotherapy. More recently, CD34(+) cells have also been shown to induce therapeutic angiogenesis in animal models of myocardial, peripheral, and cerebral ischemia. The mechanism by which CD34(+) cells promote therapeutic angiogenesis is not completely understood, although evidence supports both direct incorporation of the cells into the expanding vasculature and paracrine secretion of angiogenic growth factors that support the developing microvasculature. Phase I and phase II clinical trials have explored the usefulness of CD34(+) cells in the treatment of ischemic conditions in human patients. As the

SUBMITTER: Mackie AR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3231531 | biostudies-literature | 2011

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature