Long-term engraftment of bone marrow-derived cells in the intimal hyperplasia lesion of autologous vein grafts.

Intimal hyperplasia of autologous vein grafts is a critical problem affecting the long-term patency of many types of vascular reconstruction. Within intimal hyperplasia lesions, smooth muscle cells are a major component, playing an essential role in the pathological process. Given that bone marrow-derived cells may differentiate into smooth muscle cells in the neointima of injured arteries, we hypothesized that the bone marrow may serve as a source for some of the smooth muscle cells within intimal hyperplasia lesions of vein grafts.