Figure 2

Colony-forming units of endothelial progenitor cells in the peripheral blood from patients with malignant and benign breast diseases compared with that of healthy controls.

(A) Identification of endothelial cell colony-forming units (EC-CFUs) in vitro by light-field microscope. Representative EC-CFUs are shown on the seventh day of culture at 200 and 400X magnification in the upper left and right panels, respectively. Representative EC-CFUs stained with Giemsa are displayed at 100 and 200X magnification in the lower left and right panels, respectively. (B) Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were cultured and identified by fluorescent microscopy on the seventh day for lectin binding (green), 1,1′-dioctadecyl-3,3,3′, 3′-tetramethylindocarbocyanine-labelled acetylated low-density lipoprotein uptake (DiI-Ac-LDL, red), 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI, blue), and double-positive cells (yellow) are shown at 400 and 1000X magnification in the upper and lower panels, respectively. (C) The number of EC-CFUs per mL of whole blood from patients with malignant breast diseases (n = 30), patients with benign breast diseases (n = 20), and healthy controls (n = 11). Bars, SE; **p < 0.01.