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. 2020 Nov 21;11(11):1000. doi: 10.1038/s41419-020-03206-1

Fig. 3. The effect of diabetes on EPCs and the application of EPCs in DN.

Fig. 3

In diabetic conditions, the paracrine function of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are damaged, whereupon the expression of angiogenesis factors in EPCs and the proliferation and migration ability of EPCs is reduced, while the secretion of proinflammatory and profibrotic factors such as TGF-β1 is increased. Moreover, the depletion of circulating EPCs is due to a decrease of EPCs formed in bone marrow and EPCs in the peripheral circulation. Decreased circulating levels of EPCs and functional disorder of EPCs in diabetes may lead to the progression of diabetic nephropathy (DN). Conversely, the administration of statins, recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEPO), and AMD3100, an effective EPCs mobilizer, can accelerate the healing of wounds in diabetic patients by promoting EPCs mobilization in the bone marrow. In addition, the injection of bone marrow-derived EPCs are able to repair the glomerular endothelial injury and might achieve the purpose of treating DN. Arrow: acceleration; T-bar: amelioration.