Endothelial progenitor cells from peripheral blood support bone regeneration by provoking an angiogenic response

Neovascularization is crucial for fracture healing and plays an important role in long-time graft survival in tissue engineering applications. Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) can be isolated from peripheral blood avoiding donor site morbidity, which makes them attractive for autologous cell-based engineering of neovessels. However, contradictory results are published concerning the vasculogenic potential of this cell type. We could...