Isolation and analysis of human radial and coronary artery-derived endothelial cells from patients undergoing coronary angiography and interventions

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is one of the major health problems worldwide and is a leading cause of death. Type 2 diabetes is one of the most important risk factors for developing CVD. Understanding the mechanism of cardiovascular disease better will enable us to create new preventive and therapeutic strategies to manage this condition. The role of vascular endothelium in development of coronary artery disease has been investigated but characteristics of endothelial cells (EC) in humans with type 2 diabetes yet to be explored. This research aimed to examine the endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) expression in patients with CVD. eNOS is a marker of endothelial function. The project also compared the characteristics of ECs between CVD patients with and without diabetes. First a reliable immuno-staining method was developed in cultured endothelial cells. The methods of patient-derived EC isolation and processing were also improved to increase the cell yield. Fourteen diabetic and nineteen non-diabetic patients with clinical diagnosis of coronary artery disease (CAD) participated in the study. ECs were collected from these patients while undergoing coronary angiogram and intervention procedures. These ECs were subjected to immuno-cytochemical analysis and eNOS expression was studied and compared between diabetic and non-diabetic patients. No statistically significant difference in eNOS expression between diabetic and non-diabetic CAD patients was evident in this study. Increasing the number of patients and minimising the factors influencing the result may reveal interesting findings. Further work will be needed to investigate how exercise and medical therapy may modify endothelial function.