Endothelial–mesenchymal transition and its contribution to the emergence of stem cell phenotype

Vascular endothelial cells can demonstrate considerable plasticity to generate other cell types during embryonic development and disease progression. This process occurs through a cell differentiation mechanism known as endothelial–mesenchymal transition (EndMT). The generation of mesenchymal cells from endothelium is a crucial step in endothelial cell differentiation to several lineages including fibroblasts, myofibroblasts, mural cells, osteoblasts, chondrocytes, and adipocytes. Such differentiation patterns have been observed in systems of cardiac development, fibrosis, diabetic nephropathy, heterotopic ossification and cancer. Here we describe the EndMT program and discuss the current evidence of EndMT-mediated acquisition of stem cell characteristics and multipotent differentiation capabilities.