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 ECs 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:
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Phenotypical and functional properties of ECFCs
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Methods for ECFC isolation
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ECFC levels in health and disease
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Therapeutic potential of ECFCs
Key publications
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; in press
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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
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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
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