Figure 2.

Summary of cell sources for VTE. (A) Human embryonic stem cell line can assume a vascular smooth muscle cell phenotype that express SMA, Myosin IIB, and SM22a. (B) Human mesenchymal stem cells, either derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (left) or adult tissue (right), can serve as mural cells to stabilize engineered blood vessel via differentiation, cell–cell contact, or paracrine effect. (C) Schematic of cellular composition of a blood vessel. (D) Endothelial cells can be derived from patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cells (upper left), uniformly expressing CD31 (upper right), forming capillary-like network on Matrigel (lower left, green) and uptaking AC-LDL (lower right, green). (E) EPCs are another promising source of ECs. They are aligned to laminar shear stress (upper right). These cells can undergo sub-lineage specification in response to different degree of shear stress, expressing arterial (Cx-40) and veinous markers (COUP-TFII), respectively. (A) is adapted from [56] Copyright 2015. With permission of Springer. (B), (D) and (E) are unpublished data acquired in our lab.