Can endothelial progenitor cells move to an injured blood vessel?

Development of a clinical translational model of arterial injury and repair to assess vascular stem cell therapies

Damage to blood vessels can cause a number of serious conditions including coronary heart disease and stroke. Scientists believe that the body repairs damaged blood vessels with a type of stem cell called an endothelial progenitor cell. Dr Nicholas Cruden and colleagues at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, including BHF Professor David Newby, have been awarded a two year grant to study blood vessel damage in people undergoing coronary angiography, to investigate whether endothelial progenitor cells in the blood move to the injured blood vessel. Using state-of-the-art techniques, they will study how the body repairs the damage. They will then determine whether endothelial progenitor cells are associated with this repair and whether they move to sites of blood vessel injury. If this study confirms they can, it may pave the way for a larger clinical trial to test this new way of treating blood vessel damage and help scientists develop other new cell-based treatments for damaged blood vessels and the diseases caused by them.