Molecular strategies to treat vascular diseases: circulating vascular progenitor cell as a potential target for prophylactic treatment of atherosclerosis.

Atherosclerosis is responsible for more than half of all deaths in Western countries. Numerous studies have reported that accumulation of smooth muscle cells (SMCs) plays a principal role in atherogenesis, post-angioplasty restenosis and transplantation-associated vasculopathy. Although much effort has been devoted to targeting the migration and proliferation of medial SMCs, effective therapy to prevent occlusive vascular remodeling has not been established. Recently, it was suggested that bone marrow-derived precursors can give rise to vascular cells that contribute to the repair, remodeling, and lesion formation of the arterial wall under certain circumstances. This review highlights the recent findings on circulating vascular precursors and describes the potential therapeutic strategies for vascular diseases, targeting mobilization, homing, differentiation and proliferation of circulating progenitor cells.