Decreased Endothelial Progenitor Cells Are Associated with Severe Coronary Artery Disease: Insights from a Clinical Study

Figures

• 

  Figure 1. Multicolor flow cytometric analysis of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) in whole blood. (a) All leukocytes are first gated on an FSC/SSC dot plot as P1. (b) This P1 is displayed on an SSC/CD34 dot plot following gating of the CD34+ events as P2. (c) The events of P3 are subsequently presented on a FSC/SSC dot plot and gated as P3 in order to confirm the lymph-blast scatter region and to remove residual debris in front of the population. (d) The events of P3 are then plotted again on an SSC/CD45 dot plot and only the CD45-/dim cells are gated as P4. (e) These CD45-/dimCD34+ events are shown on a CD133/VEGFR2 dot plot.

• 

  Figure 2. Scatter plot with regression line showing the inverse relationship between EPC proportion and degree of coronary artery disease (CAD).

• 

  Figure 3. Correlation between EPC share and Syntax Score I scale categories. The low Syntax score group has a higher median EPC proportion (0.54) than the intermediate (0.23) and high-risk group (0.24).

• 

  Figure 4. Differences in the proportion of EPCs in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and the control group. Median (IQR) for the control and ACS group are 0.61 (0.45–0.87) and 0.35 (0.22–0.68), respectively.