Endothelial colony-forming cells (ECFCs)

multiple ECFC cells

Endothelial colony-forming cells (ECFCs) are progenitors of endothelial cells that circulate in peripheral blood. ECFCs have enormous potential in regenerative medicine because they can generate large amounts of autologous endothelial cells for vascular therapies. We specialize in the biology of human ECFCs derived from umbilical cord blood and adult peripheral blood. We are currently studying several aspects of ECFCs:

  • Phenotypical and functional properties of ECFCs
  • Methods for ECFC isolation
  • ECFC levels in health and disease
  • Therapeutic potential of ECFCs

Key publications

Mitochondrial transfer mediates endothelial cell engraftment through mitophagy
Lin RZ, Im GB, Luo AC, Zhu Y, Hong X, Neumeyer J, Tang HW, Perrimon N, Melero-Martin JM
Nature 2024;629(8012):660-668
PDF: Lin et al., 2024

Human endothelial colony-forming cells provide trophic support for pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes via distinctively high expression of neuregulin-1
Hong X, Oh N, Wang K, Neumeyer J, Lee CN, Lin RZ, Piekarski B, Emani S, Greene AK, Friehs I, Del Nido PJ, Melero-Martin JM
Angiogenesis 2021; 24(2):327-344.
PDF: Hong et al., 2021

Human endothelial colony-forming cells serve as trophic mediators for mesenchymal stem cell engraftment via paracrine signaling
Lin RZ, Moreno-Luna R, Li D, Jaminet SCS, Greene AK, Melero-Martin JM.
Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2014; 111(28):10137-10142
PDF: Lin et al., 2014

In vivo vasculogenic potential of human blood-derived endothelial progenitor cells
Melero-Martin JM, Khan ZA, Picard A, Wu X, Paruchuri S, Bischoff J
Blood 2007; 109:4761-4768
PDF: Melero-Martin et al., 2007

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