Objective In addition to be involved in the angiogenesis, endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) have roles in endothelium repairing, wound healing, and for protecting blood vessels from restenosis, Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) facilitate the development and progression of atherosclerosis, diabetes associated vascular complications and uremia through various mechanisms such as damaging the endothelium, promoting leukocyte adhension, increasing the aggregation of platelets, and stimulating the proliferation of vascular smooth muscles. This study was designed to explore whether AGEs have effects on biological characteristics of EPCs in cultured human peripheral blood cells. Methods Total mononuclear cells (MNCs), isolated from human peripheral blood by density gradient centrifugatian and adherence cells filtration, were incuba-ted in fibronectin-coated culture dishes. Endothelial cells were identified by means of the adsorption of ulex eurepaeus-aggluti-nin- Ⅰ (UEA- Ⅰ) labelled with fluorescein isothiacyanate (FITC) and Dil-acLDL internalization. Four days later,various con-centrations of AGEs were added to the adherent cells and remained for48 hours. MTT assay and Boyden chamber were used for observing the proliferation and migration of EPCs. Human fibronectin was used to examine the adhesion ability of EPCs. Apop-tosis was induced in the EPCs with formaldehyde and Dnase Ⅰ as a positive control group. Annexin V-FITC/PI and TUNEL method of flow cytometry were used for evaluating the effects of AGEs on the rate of apeptosis in the EPCs. Results AGEs at high concentration decreased the number of EPCs independently (P < 0.01) ; reduced the proliferation (P < 0.01), migration (P<0.001) and adhesive capacity (P<0.05) of EPCs significantly,as well as increasing the apoptasis rate of EPCs in the early stage (P < 0.001). Conclusion AGEs may have adverse effects on EPCs from cultured human peripheral MNCs, such as decreasing their numbers and impairing their functions.