| Primitive Blood Vessel Cells Tied to Heart Risks |
| 来源:Reuters;添加日期:2003-2-15;编辑:ark |
February 12, 2003 02:33:09 PM PST,
A type of early blood-vessel cell that travels in the blood could turn out to be a new marker of cardiovascular disease risk, according to preliminary research released Wednesday.
The cells, called endothelial progenitors, are precursors to the endothelial cells that form the lining of the blood vessels. The progenitor cells are released from the bone marrow into the blood circulation, and research suggests that they tend to move to areas of blood vessel injury.
The new study found that, among healthy men, the number of endothelial progenitor cells in the blood was associated both with "classic" risk factors for cardiovascular disease and with blood vessel function.Men with higher odds of developing heart disease--based on factors like smoking, age, high blood pressure and diabetes--had fewer circulating endothelial progenitors.And men with better blood-vessel function--measured by how well the brachial artery in the arm responded to blood flow--tended to have more progenitor cells.
The findings are published in the February 13th issue of The New England Journal of Medicine ( news - web sites). It's not yet clear whether a drop in endothelial progenitors might directly impair blood-vessel function, according to study author Dr. Toren Finkel, a researcher at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in Bethesda, Maryland.But he said the findings do suggest that endothelial progenitors are important in keeping the vasculature running smoothly."We think they're circulating in the blood...as part of the (blood-vessel) repair mechanism," he told Reuters Health.
He and his colleagues speculate that, over time, damage done to the blood vessels by traditional risk factors may eventually deplete the body's store of endothelial progenitors, depriving vessels of a key means of repair.But that's just a theory for now.
On a practical level, Finkel said, the findings suggest that the number of circulating endothelial progenitors a person has could serve as a marker of endothelial function--basically, how well the blood vessels are "opening and closing" in response to blood flow.
Endothelial function can be impaired even in a person without conventional cardiovascular risk factors such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure. Because traditional risk factors don't pinpoint all people at increased disease risk, Finkel noted, "people are looking for other markers."He and his colleagues are planning large studies to see whether endothelial progenitor cells are indeed a reliable marker of cardiovascular disease risk.Looking further down the road Finkel also said it's possible that therapies to enhance a person's endothelial-progenitor supply could help treat vascular disease.
SOURCE: The New England Journal of Medicine 2003;348:581-582, 593-600.
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