IMR Press / FBL / Volume 16 / Issue 2 / DOI: 10.2741/3699

Frontiers in Bioscience-Landmark (FBL) is published by IMR Press from Volume 26 Issue 5 (2021). Previous articles were published by another publisher on a subscription basis, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with Frontiers in Bioscience.

Article
Signalling pathways that regulate endothelial differentiation from stem cells
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1 Cardiovascular Division, King's College London BHF Centre, London, UK
2 Department of Bioengineering, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
Front. Biosci. (Landmark Ed) 2011, 16(2), 472–485; https://doi.org/10.2741/3699
Published: 1 January 2011
Abstract

Endothelial cells play a vital role in the human vascular system. Injury to this layer of cells can lead to devastating consequences and eventually mortality. As demonstrated by recent accumulating evidences, the injured endothelial layer can be rescued by endothelial cell-based therapy. However, the limited source of functional endothelial cells which can be used in clinical surgery, is hugely hampered. The discovery of pluripotent embryonic stem cells, nevertheless has raised hope for generating endothelial cells in the regenerative medicine field. It was demonstrated that the concerted and coordinated series of specific signaling pathways involving different molecules, guide the differentiation of these embryonic stem cells into functional endothelial cells. Moreover, it is believed that understanding the molecular mechanisms of endothelial development and signal pathways leading to endothelial differentiation from stem cells, will be essential for potential cell therapy for vascular disease. This review therefore, will summarize and discuss recent insights into endothelial development and the signaling pathways regulating embryonic stem cell differentiation towards the endothelial lineage.

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