Skip to main content

Circulating Endothelial Cells and Circulating Endothelial Progenitors

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Recent Results in Cancer Research ((RECENTCANCER,volume 195))

Abstract

The roles of circulating endothelial cells (CECs) and circulating endothelial progenitors (CEPs) are currently being investigated in several diseases including cancer and metastases development. Preclinical and clinical data suggest that CEC enumeration might be useful to identify patients who might benefit from anti-angiogenic treatments while CEPs seem to have a “catalytic” role in different steps of cancer progression and recurrence after therapy. The definition of CEC and CEP phenotypes and the standardization of CEC and CEP enumeration procedures are highly warranted to use these cells as biomarkers in clinical trials in oncology, and to compare results from different studies.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   89.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Hladovec J, Rossamn P (1973) Circulating endothelial cells isolated together with platelets and the experimental modification of their counts in rats. Thromb Res 3:665–674

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Dignat-George F, Sampol J (2000) Circulating endothelial cells in vascular disorders: new insights into an old concept. Eur J Haematol 65:215–220

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Lin Y, Weisdorf DJ, Solovey A, Hebbel RP (2000) Origins of circulating endothelial cells and endothelial outgrowth from blood. J Clin Invest 105:71–77

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Rosenzweig A (2005) Circulating endothelial progenitors—cells as biomarkers. N Engl J Med 353:1055–1057

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Blann AD, Woywodt A, Bertolini F, Bull TM, Buyon JP, Clancy RM, Haubitz M, Hebbel RP, Lip GY, Mancuso P, Sampol J, Solovey A, Dignat-George F (2005) Circulating endothelial cells: biomarker of vascular disease. Thromb Haemost 93:228–235

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Woywodt A, Blann AD, Kirsch T, Erdbruegger U, Banzet N, Haubitz M, Dignat-George F (2006) Isolation and enumeration of circulating endothelial cells by immunomagnetic isolation: proposal of a definition and a consensus protocol. J Thromb Haemost 4:671–677

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Mancuso P, Antoniotti P, Quarna J, Calleri A, Rabascio C, Tacchetti C, Braidotti P, Wu HK, Zurita AJ, Saronni L, Cheng JB, Shalinsky DR, Heymach JV, Bertolini F (2009) Validation of a standardized method for enumerating circulating endothelial cells and progenitors: flow cytometry and molecular and ultrastructural analyses. Clin Cancer Res 1(15):267–273

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Mancuso P, Burlini A, Pruneri G, Goldhirsch A, Martinelli G, Bertolini F (2001) Resting and activated endothelial cells are increased in the peripheral blood of cancer patients. Blood 97:3658–3661

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Rabascio C, Muratori E, Mancuso P, Calleri A, Raia V, Foutz T, Cinieri S, Veronesi G, Pruneri G, Lampertico P, Iavarone M, Martinelli G, Goldhirsch A, Bertolini F (2004) Assessing tumor angiogenesis: increased circulating VE-cadherin RNA in patients with cancer indicates viability of circulating endothelial cells. Cancer Res 15:4373–4377

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Bertolini F, Shaked Y, Mancuso P, Kerbel RS (2006) The multifaceted circulating endothelial cell in cancer: towards marker and target identification. Nat Rev Cancer 6:835–845

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Monestiroli S, Mancuso P, Burlini A, Pruneri G, Dell’Agnola C, Gobbi A, Martinelli G, Bertolini F (2001) Kinetics and viability of circulating endothelial cells as surrogate angiogenesis marker in an animal model of human lymphoma. Cancer Res 61:4341–4344

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Mancuso P, Colleoni M, Calleri A, Orlando L, Maisonneuve P, Pruneri G, Agliano A, Goldhirsch A, Shaked Y, Kerbel RS, Bertolini F (2006) Circulating endothelial cell kinetics and viability predict survival in breast cancer patients receiving metronomic chemotherapy. Blood 108:452–459

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Goon PK, Lip GY, Stonelake PS, Blann AD (2009) Circulating endothelial cells and circulating progenitor cells in breast cancer: relationship to endothelial damage/dysfunction/apoptosis, clinicopathologic factors, and the Nottingham Prognostic Index. Neoplasia 11:771–779

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Naik RP, Jin D, Chuang E, Gold EG, Tousimis EA, Moore AL, Christos PJ, de Dalmas T, Donovan D, Rafii S, Vahdat LT (2008) Circulating endothelial progenitor cells correlate to stage in patients with invasive breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res Treat 107:133–138

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Rosenzweig A (2005) Circulating endothelial progenitors cells as biomarkers. N Engl J Med 353:1055–1057

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Asahara T, Murohara T, Sullivan A, Silver M, van der Zee R, Li T, Witzenbichler B, Schatteman G, Isner JM (1997) Isolation of putative progenitor endothelial cells for angiogenesis. Science 275:964–967

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Shi Q, Rafii S, Wu MH, Wijelath ES, Yu C, Ishida A, Fujita Y, Kothari S, Mohle R, Sauvage LR, Moore MA, Storb RF, Hammond WP (1998) Evidence for circulating bone marrow-derived endothelial cells. Blood 92:362–367

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Peichev M, Naiyer AJ, Pereira D, Zhu Z, Lane WJ, Williams M, Oz MC, Hicklin DJ, Witte L, Moore MA, Rafii S (2000) Expression of VEGFR-2 and AC133 by circulating human CD34(+) cells identifies a population of functional endothelial precursors. Blood 1(95):952–958

    Google Scholar 

  19. Rafii S, Lyden D, Benezra R, Hattori K, Heissig B (2002) Vascular and haematopoietic stem cells: novel targets for anti-angiogenesis therapy? Nat Rev Cancer 2:826–835

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Yoder MC, Mead LE, Prater D, Krier TR, Mroueh KN, Li F, Krasich R, Temm CJ, Prchal JT, Ingram DA (2007) Redefining endothelial progenitor cells via clonal analysis and hematopoietic stem/progenitor cell principals. Blood 109:1801–1809

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Case J, Mead LE, Bessler WK, Prater D, White HA, Saadatzadeh MR, Bhavsar JR, Yoder MC, Haneline LS, Ingram DA (2007) Human CD34+AC133+VEGFR-2+ cells are not endothelial progenitor cells but distinct, primitive hematopoietic progenitors. Exp Hematol 35:1109–1118

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Pradhan KR, Mund JA, Johnson C, Vik TA, Ingram DA, Case J (2011) Polychromatic flow cytometry identifies novel subsets of circulating cells with angiogenic potential in pediatric solid tumors. Cytometry B Clin Cytom 80B(5):335–338

    Google Scholar 

  23. Farace F, Massard C, Borghi E, Bidart JM, Soria JC (2007) Vascular disrupting therapy-induced mobilization of circulating endothelial progenitor cells. Ann Oncol 18:1421–1422

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Lee S, Chen TT, Barber CL, Jordan MC, Murdock J, Desai S, Ferrara N, Nagy A, Roos KP, Iruela-Arispe ML (2007) Autocrine VEGF signaling is required for vascular homeostasis. Cell 130:691–703

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Shaked Y, Emmenegge U, Man S, Cervi D, Bertolini F, Ben-David Y, Kerbel RS (2005) Optimal biologic dose of metronomic chemotherapy regimens is associated with maximum antiangiogenic activity. Blood 106:3058–3306

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Zhang H, Vaki V, Braunstein M, Smith EL, Maroney J, Chen L, Dai K, Berenson JR, Hussain MM, Klueppelberg U, Norin AJ, Akman HO, Özcelik T, Batuman OA (2005) Circulating endothelial progenitor cells in multiple myeloma: implications and significance. Blood 105:3286–3294

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Fürstenberger G, von Moos R, Lucas R, Thürlimann B, Senn HJ, Hamacher J, Boneberg EM (2006) Circulating endothelial cells and angiogenic serum factors during neoadjuvant chemotherapy of primary breast cancer. Br J Cancer 94:524–531

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Dellapasqua S, Bertolini F, Bagnardi V, Campagnoli E, Scarano E, Torrisi R, Shaked Y, Mancuso P, Goldhirsch A, Rocca A, Pietri E, Colleoni M (2008) Metronomic cyclophosphamide and capecitabine combined with bevacizumab in advanced breast cancer. J Clin Oncol 26:4899–4905

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Norden-Zfoni A, Desai J, Manola J, Beaudry P, Force J, Maki R, Folkman J, Bello C, Baum C, De Primo SE, Shalinsky DR, Demetri GD, Heymach JV (2007) Blood based biomarkers of SU11248 activity and clinical outcome in patients with metastatic imatinib-resistant gastrointestinal stromal tumor. Clin Cancer Res 13:2643–2650

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Schneider M, Tjwa M, Carmeliet P (2005) A surrogate marker to monitor angiogenesis at last. Cancer Cell 7:3–4

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Kerbel RS, Folkman J (2002) Clinical translation of angiogenesis inhibitors. Nat Rev Cancer 2:727–739

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Lyden D, Hattori K, Dias S, Costa C, Blaikie P, Butros L, Chadburn A, Heissig B, Marks W, Witte L, Wu Y, Hicklin D, Zhu Z, Hackett NR, Crystal RG, Moore MA, Hajjar KA, Manova K, Benezra R, Rafii S (2001) Impaired recruitment of bone-marrow-derived endothelial and hematopoietic precursor cells blocks tumor angiogenesis and growth. Nat Med 7:1194–1201

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Shaked Y, Ciarrocchi A, Franco M, Lee CR, Man S, Cheung AM, Hicklin DJ, Chaplin D, Foster FS, Benezra R, Kerbel RS (2006) Therapy-induced acute recruitment of circulating endothelial progenitor cells to tumors. Science 22:1785–1787

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Gao D, Mittal V (2009) The role of bone-marrow-derived cells in tumor growth, metastasis initiation and progression. Trends Mol Med 15:333–343

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. Lin Y, Weisdorf DJ, Solovey A, Hebbel RP (2000) Origins of circulating endothelial cells and endothelial outgrowth from blood. J Clin Invest 105:71–77

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Ruzinova MB, Schoer RA, Gerald W, Egan JE, Pandolfi PP, Rafii SK, Manova K, Mittal VR, Benezra R (2003) Effect of angiogenesis inhibition by Id loss and the contribution of bone-marrow-derived endothelial cells in spontaneous murine tumors. Cancer Cell 4:277–289

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  37. Peters BA, Diaz LA, Polyak K, Meszler L, Romans K, Guinan EC, Antin JH, Myerson D, Hamilton SR, Vogelstein B, Kinzler KW, Lengauer C (2005) Contribution of bone marrow-derived endothelial cells to human tumor vasculature. Nat Med 11:261–262

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  38. Nolan DJ, Ciarrocchi A, Mellick AS, Jaggi JS, Bambino K, Gupta S, Heikamp E, McDevitt MR, Scheinberg DA, Benezra R, Mittal V (2007) Bone marrow-derived endothelial progenitor cells are a major determinant of nascent tumor neovascularization. Genes Dev 21:1546–1558

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  39. Shaked Y, Henke E, Roodhart JM, Mancuso P, Langenberg MH, Colleoni M, Daenen LG, Man S, Xu P, Emmenegger U, Tang T, Zhu Z, Witte L, Strieter RM, Bertolini F, Voest EE, Benezra R, Kerbel RS (2008) Rapid chemotherapy-induced acute endothelial progenitor cell mobilization: implications for antiangiogenic drugs as chemosensitizing agents. Cancer Cell 14:263–273

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  40. Bertolini F, Paul S, Mancuso P, Monestiroli S, Gobbi A, Shaked Y, Kerbel RS (2003) Maximum tolerable dose and low-dose metronomic chemotherapy have opposite effects on the mobilization and viability of circulating endothelial progenitor cells. Cancer Res 63:4342–4346

    Google Scholar 

  41. Kerbel RS, Kamen BA (2004) The anti-angiogenic basis of metronomic chemotherapy. Nat Rev Cancer 4:423–436

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Francesco Bertolini .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Mancuso, P., Calleri, A., Bertolini, F. (2012). Circulating Endothelial Cells and Circulating Endothelial Progenitors. In: Ignatiadis, M., Sotiriou, C., Pantel, K. (eds) Minimal Residual Disease and Circulating Tumor Cells in Breast Cancer. Recent Results in Cancer Research, vol 195. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-28160-0_14

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-28160-0_14

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-28159-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-28160-0

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics