Over the last years,the existence of different stem cells with myogenic potential has been widely investigated.Be-sides the classical skeletal muscle progenitors represented by satellite cells,numerous multipotent and embryologi-cally unrelated progenitors with a potential role in muscle differentiation and repair have been identified.In order to conceive a therapeutic approach for degenerative muscle disorders,it is of primary importance to identify an ideal stem cell endowed with all the features for a possible use in vivo.Among all emerging populations,vessel-associated stem cells are a novel and promising class of multipotent progenitors of mesodermal origin and with high myogenic potential which seem to best fit all the requirements for a possible cell therapy.In vitro and in vivo studies have already tested the effectiveness and safety of vessel-associated stem cells in animal models.This leads to the concrete possibility in the future to start pilot human clinical trials,hopefully opening the way to a turn-ing point in the treatment of genetic and acquired muscle disorders.
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