Pancreatic-carcinoma-cell-derived pro-angiogenic factors can induce endothelial-cell differentiation of a subset of circulating CD34+ progenitors

Background CD34+ progenitor cells comprise both hematopoietic and endothelial progenitor cells. Recent studies suggest that circulating endothelial progenitor cells are recruited into the angiogenic vascular system of several cancers, including pancreatic carcinoma, and that they correlate with clinical progress. However, whether endothelial progenitor cell mobilization occurs in response to cytokine release by tumor cells is still unclear.