To develop cell therapies for ischemic diseases, endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) have been expected to play a pivotal role in vascular regeneration. It is desirable to use a molecular marker that is related to the function of the cells. Here, a quantitative polymerase chain reaction array revealed that early EPCs derived from CD133 1 cells exhibited significant expression of MMP-9. Some populations of early EPCs expressed MMP-9 on the cell surface and others did not. We also attempted to separate the proangiogenic fraction from early EPCs derived from CD133 1 cells using a functional cell surface marker, and we then analyzed the MMP-9 1 and MMP-9 2 cell fractions. The MMP-9 1 cells not only revealed higher invasion ability but also produced a high amount of IL-8. Moreover, the stimulative effect of MMP-9 1 cells on angiogenesis in vitro and in vivo was prohibited by anti-IL-8 antibody. These data indicate that MMP-9 is one of the useful cell surface markers for the separation of angiogenic cells. Our treatment of early EPCs with hyaluronidase caused not only a downregulation of cell-surface MMP-9 but also a decrease in invasion ability, indicating that membrane-bound MMP-9, which is one of the useful markers for early EPCs, plays an important role in angiogenesis. STEM CELLS 2016;34:1251-1262
SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTAngiogenic cell therapy is thought to be one of the promising strategies for the treatment of ischemic diseases. CD133-positive cells have been reported to be useful for vascular regeneration by releasing angiogenic factors. It is not known, however, that what population of cultured CD133 1 cells is functionally important for vascularization. In this study, we separated both MMP-9 1 cells and MMP-9 2 cells from cultured CD133 1 cells as a cell surface marker and conducted functional characterization of these cells. As results, MMP-9 1 cells from CD133 1 cells had a strong angiogenic ability.