Circulating stromal osteonectin-positive progenitor cells and stenotic coronary atherosclerosisThis paper is one of a selection of papers published in this Special Issue, entitled The Cellular and Molecular Basis of Cardiovascular Dysfunction, Dhalla 70th Birthday Tribute.

The level of circulating stromal progenitor cells carrying osteonectin (ON), a marker of osteogenic differentiation, was evaluated by flow cytometry in blood of patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). Ninety-nine patients with CAD were included into the study. Coronary angiography of all patients showed critical stenosis of at least 2 coronary arteries or their major branches. The control groups included 8 patients without CAD and 19 healthy volunteers. In control patients, no lesions of the coronary bed were found by angiography. The absence of CAD in the volunteers was confirmed by bicycle stress test. The content of ON-positive cells in blood was examined in various populations of lymphocyte-like cells. It was found that the number of ON+ lymphocyte-like cells with CD41 positivity in blood of patients without coronary stenosis (0.27% ± 0.11%, mean ± SD) did not differ significantly from corresponding value in healthy volunteers (0.26% ± 0.07%, p = 0.94). In CAD patients, the percent of these ON+ c...