Affiliations: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Padova, Medical School, Padova, Italy | Department of Thoracic, Cardiac and Vascular Sciences, University of Padova, Medical School, Padova, Italy
Note: [] Corresponding author: Gian Paolo Fadini, MD, Policlinico Universitario, Dipartimento di Medicina Clinica e Sperimentale, v. Giustiniani, 2, 35100 Padova, Italy. Tel.: +39 049 8212185; Fax: +39 049 8212184; E-mail: gianpaolofadini@hotmail.com, gianpaolo.fadini@unipd.it
Abstract: Ischemic recruitment of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) in involved in compensatory angiogenic in animal models, but this still needs to be substantiated in humans. We enrolled 12 patients, who underwent surgical correction of abdominal aortic aneurysm without atherosclerosis of leg arteries (n = 4) or lower limb atherosclerosis obliterans (AO; n = 8). We measured VEGF, SDF-1, lactate and CD34+ KDR+ EPCs in the arterial and venous circulation of lower limbs. We found that, irrespectively of AO stage and lactate production, there was no consistent arterio-venous gradient of EPC, VEGF and SDF-1. Notably, in 4/8 patients, EPCs were more abundant in the vein than in the artery. EPC gradient was directly correlated with VEGF gradient and inversely correlated with SDF-1 gradient. In conclusion, we failed to show any consistent gradient of EPCs across ischemic limbs in relation to severity of atherosclerosis obliterans, but we speculatively suggest that a bidirectional traffic of EPCs in and out the ischemic tissue might be regulated by VEGF and SDF-1.
