VASCULAR DISEASE INTRAVENOUS ENDOTHELIAL-LIKE CELLS DIFFERENTIATED FROM MESENCHYMAL STEM CELLS ACCELERATE RE-ENDOTHELIZATION IN BALLOON-INJURED RAT ACC Poster Contributions

Background: Recent studies suggested the potential of EPCs for neovascularization and re-endothelization, but the difficulty of obtaining sufficient cells has been an obstacle to the therapeutic use of blood-derived EPCs. MSCs have great advantages for cell therapy such as ease of preparation and great plasticity. In this study, we hypothesize that small molecules induce MSCs differentiation into endothelial like cells through regulating protein kinase activity and the differentiated cells show the greater beneficial effects on the re-endothelization in balloon-injured rat model.