Raiders of the lost mark - endothelial cells and their role in transplantation for hematologic malignancies

Abstract

Endothelial cells (EC) are crucial for normal angiogenesis and important for patients with leukemia, myeloma, and lymphoma during and after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Knowledge of endothelial dysfunction in hematologic malignancies is provided by translational studies analyzing soluble endothelial markers, morphologic and functional changes of EC cultured in patients' sera or enumeration of circulating EC or endothelial progenitor cells (EPC). EC are important for stem cell homing and maintenance. Endothelial activation or damage is a central component in the pathogenesis of several complications after HSCT, like acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease, sinusoidal obstruction syndrome, capillary leak syndrome, engraftment syndrome, diffuse alveolar syndrome, idiopathic pneumonia syndrome, and transplant-associated microangiopathy. Finally, EC or EPC may facilitate tumor cell survival thus representing potential factors for both disease progression and relapse in hematologic malignancies.

Keywords: Endothelial cells; endothelial progenitor cells; graft-versus-host disease; hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.