CDH5 and type 2 diabetes mellitus: However, numbers of CD31+/VEGF-R2+/VE-cadherin+ cells (CD144+), termed by the authors “late-EPCs,” were reduced in patients with diabetes type 2 recently diagnosed (within 1 year of diagnosis) with no clinical evidence of angiopathy (n = 27) and in those with peripheral arterial occlusive disease and DR (severe NPDR or PDR) (n = 27) when compared with the control group (n = 24).