Endothelial cell delivery for cardiovascular therapy

Obstructive atherosclerotic vascular disease stands as one of the greatest public health threats in the world. While a number of therapies have been developed to combat vascular disease, endothelial cell delivery has emerged as a distinct therapeutic modality. In this article, we will review the anatomy of the normal blood vessel and the biology of the intact endothelium, focusing upon its centrality in vascular biology and control over the components of the vascular response to injury so as to understand better the motivation for a cell-based form of therapy. Our discussion of cell delivery for cardiovascular therapy will be divided into surgical and interventional approaches. We will briefly recount the development of artificial grafts for surgical vascular bypass before turning our attention towards endothelial cell seeded vascular grafts, in which endothelial cells effectively provide local delivery of endogenous endothelial secretory products to maintain prosthetic integrity after surgical implantation. New techniques in tissue and genetic engineering of vascular grafts and whole blood vessels will be presented. Methods for percutaneous interventions will be examined as well. We will evaluate results of endoluminal endothelial cell seeding for treatment of restenosis and gene therapy approaches to enhance endogenous re-endothelialization. Finally, we will examine some innovations in endothelial cell delivery that may lead to the development of endothelial cell implants as a novel therapy for controlling proliferative vascular arteriopathy.