Abstract 9971: Comparison of Stents Coated with Antibody against CD34 versus Vascular Endothelial-Cadherin: Anti-VE-Cadherin-Antibody-Coated Stents are Better In Rapid Endothelialization and Reduction of Neointimal Formation

Background Vascular endothelial-cadherin is exclusively expressed on the late endothelial progenitor cells. We evaluated whether anti-VE-cadherin antibody-coated stents might accelerate endothelial recovery and reduce neointimal formation more than anti-CD34 antibody-coated stents through the superior ability to capture the late EPC. Methods The BMS were coated with anti-VE-cadherin antibodies or anti-CD34 antibodies under the same condition. In vitro, the ability to capture EPC and specific cell capturing ability was evaluated. In vivo, re-endothelialization of stent in the rabbit iliac arteries was assessed by serial scanning electron microscopy. At 42 days, the area and proliferating activity of the neointima was compared between two stents. Results VE-cad stents showed higher number of adhering EPC (823.6 ± 182.2 versus 379.2 ± 137.2 cells/HPF, p<0.001). VE-cad stents also demonstrated better specific capturing of cells with endothelial lineage markers than CD34 stents did in flow cytometric analysis. VE-cad stents showed more effective re-endothelialization after 3 days in vivo. At 42 days, VE-cad stents demonstrated significantly smaller neointima area (0.92 ± 0.38 versus 1.24 ± 0.41 mm 2 , p=0.002) and significantly lower PCNA positive cells in neointima (1684.8 ± 658.8/mm 2 versus 2681.7 ± 375.1/mm 2 , p=0.008), compared with CD34 stents. Conclusions VE-cad stents captured EPC and endothelial cells more selectively in vitro, accelerated re-endothelialization over stents, and reduced neointimal formation in vivo, compared with CD34 stents. Targeting the VE-cadherin could be more reasonable strategy in developing the next generation pro-healing stents.