Differentiated Smooth Muscle Cells Generate a Subpopulation of Resident Vascular Progenitor Cells in the Adventitia Regulated by Klf4

摘要

Rationale: The vascular adventitia is a complex layer of the vessel wall consisting of vasa vasorum microvessels, nerves, fibroblasts, immune cells, and resident progenitor cells. Adventitial progenitors express the stem cell markers, Sca1 and CD34 (adventitial sca1-positive progenitor cells [AdvSca1]), have the potential to differentiate in vitro into multiple lineages, and potentially contribute to intimal lesions in vivo.