Revisiting cardiovascular regeneration with bone marrow‐derived angiogenic and vasculogenic cells

Cell‐based therapy has emerged as a promising therapy for cardiovascular disease. Particularly, bone marrow (BM)‐derived cells have been most extensively investigated and have shown encouraging results in preclinical studies. Clinical trials, however, have demonstrated split results in post‐myocardial infarction cardiac repair. Mechanistically, transdifferentiation of BM‐derived cells into cardiovascular tissue demonstrated by earlier studies is now known to play a minor role in functional recovery, and humoral and paracrine effects turned out to be main mechanisms responsible for tissue regeneration and functional recovery. With this advancement in the mechanistic insight of BM‐derived cells, new efforts have been made to identify cell population, which can be readily isolated and obtained in sufficient quantity without mobilization and have higher therapeutic potential. Recently, haematopoietic CD31+ cells, which are more prevalent in bone marrow and peripheral blood, have been revealed to have angiogenic and vasculogenic activities and strong potential for therapeutic neovascularization in ischaemic tissues. This article will cover the recent advances in BM‐derived cell‐based therapy and implication of CD31+ cells. LINKED ARTICLES This article is part of a themed section on Regenerative Medicine and Pharmacology: A Look to the Future. To view the other articles in this section visit http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/bph.2013.169.issue‐2