Intramyocardial transplantation of autologous endothelial progenitor cells for therapeutic neovascularization of myocardial ischemia.

Background: We investigated whether catheter-based, intramyocardial transplantation of autologous endothelial progenitor cells can enhance neovascularization in myocardial ischemia.

Methods And Results: Myocardial ischemia was induced by placement of an ameroid constrictor around swine left circumflex artery. Four weeks after constrictor placement, CD31+ mononuclear cells (MNCs) were freshly isolated from the peripheral blood of each animal.

Endothelial progenitor cell vascular endothelial growth factor gene transfer for vascular regeneration.

Background: Previous studies have established that bone marrow-derived endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are present in the systemic circulation. In the current study, we investigated the hypothesis that gene transfer can be used to achieve phenotypic modulation of EPCs.

Methods And Results: In vitro, ex vivo murine vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) 164 gene transfer augmented EPC proliferative activity and enhanced adhesion and incorporation of EPCs into quiescent as well as activated endothelial cell monolayers.