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(Circulation. 2004;110:3158-3160.)
© 2004 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorial

Circulating Progenitor Cells

Search for an Identity

Piero Anversa, MD; Jan Kajstura, PhD; Annarosa Leri, MD

From the Cardiovascular Research Institute, Department of Medicine, New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York.

Correspondence to Piero Anversa, MD, Cardiovascular Research Institute, New York Medical College, Vosburgh Pavilion Room 303, Valhalla, New York, 10595. E-mail piero_anversa@nymc.edu

Key Words: Editorials • stem cells • cell differentiation • blood cells • bone marrow

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

Originally, the blood was viewed as a relatively simple tissue that was composed of plasma and a few subsets of immune, inflammatory, and erythrocytic cells. When Cohnheim published in 1867 his finding that "all cells come from the bloodstream and therefore ... from the bone marrow," this outstanding scientist of the nineteenth century could not anticipate the broad and far-reaching implications of his observation.¹ At present, Cohnheim’s findings are cited in support of the notion that the bone marrow is the major self-renewing organ of the organism, capable of generating undifferentiated and early committed cells. A paradigm has been created in which the bone marrow constitutes the reservoir of circulating stem (or progenitor) cells that replenish not only the bone marrow itself but also solid organs.² If this were the case, the bone marrow would have to possess a permissive environment for the early commitment of a totipotent primitive cell that can acquire the features of any differentiated progeny in the organism. This highly immature cell should have the properties of an embryonic stem cell that persists into adulthood and is responsible for cell turnover and organ homeostasis. Two years ago, a bone marrow cell with this enormous growth potential was characterized in vitro,³ but the functional relevance of this multipotent adult progenitor cell is still uncertain. Additionally, the paradigm of the bone marrow as the master regulator of organ function and repair falls short when ischemic injury occurs and this hypothetical embryonic-like stem cell is unable to promote an . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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