Blood, 1 February 2008, Vol. 111, No. 3, pp. 1302-1305
Patrick Au 1,2 , Laurence M. Daheron 3,4 , Dan G. Duda 1 , Kenneth S. Cohen 3,4 , James A. Tyrrell 1 , Ryan M. Lanning 1,2 , Dai Fukumura 1 , David T. Scadden 3,4 , and Rakesh K. Jain 1
1 Edwin L. Steele Laboratory, Department of Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston; 2 Harvard–Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge; 3 Center for Regenerative Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston; and 4 Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge, MA
Tissue engineering requires formation of a de novo stable vascular network. Because of their ability to proliferate, differentiate into endothelial cells, and form new vessels, blood-derived endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are attractive source of cells for use in engineering blood vessels. However, the durability and function of EPC-derived vessels implanted in vivo are unclear. To this end, we directly compared formation and functions of tissue-engineered blood vessels generated by peripheral blood– and umbilical cord blood–derived EPCs in a model of in vivo vasculogenesis. We found that adult peripheral blood EPCs form blood vessels that are unstable and regress within 3 weeks. In contrast, umbilical cord blood EPCs form normal-functioning blood vessels that last for more than 4 months. These vessels exhibit normal blood flow, perm-selectivity to macromolecules, and induction of leukocyte-endothelial interactions in response to cytokine activation similar to normal vessels. Thus, umbilical cord blood EPCs hold great therapeutic potential, and their use should be pursued for vascular engineering.