Recent advances in endothelial colony-forming cells: from the transcriptomic perspective

TL;DR

This review discusses how transcriptomic analysis can help understand and improve endothelial colony-forming cells for treating vascular diseases.

Contribution

The paper highlights transcriptomic analysis as a novel approach to study ECFC dysfunction and heterogeneity for clinical applications.

Findings

ECFCs are dysfunctional in various diseases, affecting their therapeutic potential.

Transcriptomic analysis can reveal key molecules and pathways in ECFC biology.

ECFC heterogeneity across donors and sources needs to be characterized for clinical use.

Abstract

Endothelial colony-forming cells (ECFCs) are progenitors of endothelial cells with significant proliferative and angiogenic ability. ECFCs are a promising treatment option for various diseases, such as ischemic heart disease and peripheral artery disease. However, some barriers hinder the clinical application of ECFC therapeutics. One of the current obstacles is that ECFCs are dysfunctional due to the underlying disease states. ECFCs exhibit dysfunctional phenotypes in pathologic states, which include but are not limited to the following: premature neonates and pregnancy-related diseases, diabetes mellitus, cancers, haematological system diseases, hypoxia, pulmonary arterial hypertension, coronary artery diseases, and other vascular diseases. Besides, ECFCs are heterogeneous among donors, tissue sources, and within cell subpopulations. Therefore, it is important to elucidate the underlying mechanisms of ECFC dysfunction and characterize their heterogeneity to enable clinical application. In this review, we summarize the current and potential application of transcriptomic analysis in the field of ECFC biology. Transcriptomic analysis is a powerful tool for exploring the key molecules and pathways involved in health and disease and can be used to characterize ECFC heterogeneity.

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