Transplantation of Endothelial Progenitor Cells Accelerates Dermal Wound Healing with Increased Recruitment of Monocytes/Macrophages and Neovascularization

J Korean Wound Management Soc > Volume 2(1); 2006 > Article

Original

Journal of the Korean Wound Management Society 2006;2(1): 19-27.

혈관내피전구세포에 의한 피부상처치유 촉진에 관한 연구

김경리·서원희·김정민·신인순·장형석·이정선·최진호·김덕경

성균관대학교 의과대학 삼성서울병원, 삼성생명과학연구소

Transplantation of Endothelial Progenitor Cells Accelerates Dermal Wound Healing with Increased Recruitment of Monocytes/Macrophages and Neovascularization

Koung Li Kim, Wonhee Suh, Jeong-Min Kim, In-Soon Shin, Hyung-Suk Jang, Jung-Sun Lee, Jin-Ho Choi, Duk-Kyung Kim

Department of Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Samsung Biomedical Re search Institute, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

Published online: 31 May 2005.

ABSTRACT

Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) act as endothelial precursors that promote new blood vessel formation and increase angiogenesis by secreting growth factors and cytokines in ischemic tissues. These facts prompt the hypothesis that EPC transplantation should accelerate the wound-repair process by facilitating neovascularization and the production of various molecules related to wound healing. In a murine dermal excisional wound model, EPC transplantation accelerated wound re-epithelialization compared with the transplantation of mature endothelial cells (ECs) in control mice. When the wounds were analyzed immunohistochemically, the EPC transplanted group exhibited significantly more monocytes/macrophages in the wound at day 5 after injury than did the EC-transplanted group. This observation is consistent with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay results showing that EPCs produced in abundance several chemoattractants of monocytes and macrophages that are known to play a pivotal role in the early phase of wound healing. At day 14 after injury, the EPC-transplanted group showed a statistically significant increase in vascular density in the granulation tissue relative to that of the EC-transplanted group. Fluorescence microscopy revealed that EPCs preferentially moved into the wound and were directly incorporated into newly formed capillaries in the granulation tissue. These results suggest that EPC transplantation will be useful in dermal wound repair and skin regeneration, because EPCs both promote the recruitment of monocytes-/macrophages into the wound and increase neovascularization. (J Korean Wound Care Soc 2006;2:19-27)

Key Words: Endothelial progenitor cell, Macrophage, Monocyte, Angiogenesis, Wound healing