Fabian Weisrock Author

Research Article Open Access

Test-Retest Reliability of Flow Cytometric Quantification of Circulating Endothelial Cells and Endothelial Progenitor Cells in Cardiovascular Diseases

Author(s):

Josephine Buescher, , Fabian Weisrock , Max Fritschka, Sebastian Beckmann , Simon Litmeier , Elvis Tahirovic , Sara Radenovic , Andreas Busjahn , Thomas Krahn , Wilfried Dinh and Hans-Dirk Düengen

Circulating Endothelial Cells (CECs) and Endothelial Progenitor Cells (EPCs) are gaining importance as quantifiable surrogate biomarkers of Endothelial Dysfunction (ED). Lack of a common definition and consequently, a standardized quantification method has limited clinical applicability of these biomarkers. A reliable, reproducible, and practicable method is required to achieve the full potential of these parameters. The objective of this study was to evaluate the test-retest reliability over a short period of time (~7 days) of flow cytometric quantification of CECs and EPCs in human whole blood from patients with cardiovascular disease. 100 patients (mean age 65 years ± 10 years, 30 women) were enrolled into a prospective study consisting of 4 patients groups: Heart Failure with... view more»

Abstract HTML PDF