Low levels of endothelial progenitor cells correlate with disease duration and activity in patients with Behcet's disease

OBJECTIVES: We tested whether Behçet's disease (BD) is characterized by alterations of circulating endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs),which are involved in vascular homeostasis and repair. METHODS: We enrolled 30 BD patients and 27 matched healthy controls. EPCs were defined and measured by flow cytometry according to the expression of CD34, CD133 and KDR. RESULTS: We show that BD patients had significantly lower levels of CD34+KDR+ and CD34+CD133+KDR+ EPCs than controls. We found significant negative correlations between EPC phenotypes and BD duration, while there were positive correlations between CD34+KDR+ EPCs and both BD activity scores and C-reactive protein. The lower EPC levels with increasing disease duration was shown in univariate analysis and in multivariable analysis adjusted for possible confounders. CONCLUSION: This is the first report that BD is associated with progressive EPC decline. Reduction of EPCs may represent a mechanism of induction and/or progression of vascular injury in these patients.