Circulating endothelial and progenitor cells: Evidence from acute and long-term exercise effects

Abstract

Circulating bone-marrow-derived cells, named endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs), are capable of maintaining, generating, and replacing terminally differentiated cells within their own specific tissue as a consequence of physiological cell turnover or tissue damage due to injury. Endothelium maintenance and restoration of normal endothelial cell function is guaranteed by a complex physiological procedure in which EPCs play a significant role. Decreased number of peripheral blood EPCs has been associated with endothelial dysfunction and high cardiovascular risk. In this review, we initially report current knowledge with regard to the role of EPCs in healthy subjects and the clinical value of EPCs in different disease populations such as arterial hypertension, obstructive sleep-apnea syndrome, obesity, diabetes mellitus, peripheral arterial disease, coronary artery disease, pulmonary hypertension, and heart failure. Recent studies have introduced the novel concept that physical activity, either performed as a single exercise session or performed as part of an exercise training program, results in a significant increase of circulating EPCs. In the second part of this review we provide preliminary evidence from recent studies investigating the effects of acute and long-term exercise in healthy subjects and athletes as well as in disease populations.

Decreased Circulating Endothelial Progenitor Cell Levels in Patients with Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction

“…Fourth, we cannot definitively exclude that a reduced EPC number is unique to HFpEF rather than related to its comorbidities. Finally, we did not test whether exercise, which could result in increased circulating EPC levels in healthy persons, influenced the EPC number in HFpEF patients [40]. Although a previous study showed endothelial dysfunction may not be related to reduced exercise capacity in HFpEF [23], further studies focusing on exercise characteristics should be designed to elucidate the exercise effects on EPCs in HFpEF.…”

Flow cytometric analysis of circulating endothelial cells and endothelial progenitors for clinical purposes in oncology: A critical evaluation

“…Circulating endothelial cells (CECs) and endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) have been proposed as non-invasive surrogate biomarkers of angiogenesis in cancer and other diseases (1)(2)(3)(4)(5). Their baseline number and kinetics in cancer patients has been widely investigated and several previous studies have demonstrated that they can be altered by disease status and treatments, including biological anti-angiogenic drugs and chemotherapy (CT) (1,2).…”

Endothelial progenitor cells in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

“…Decreasing number of EPCs has been established as an independent prognostic risk factor associated with endothelial dysfunction and high cardiovascular risk 11,12 . Patients with cardiovascular risk factors have shown a reduced number of circulating progenitors and an impaired Competing interests: none declared.…”