Gene Therapy Nears Reality For Cardiovascular Disease

Gene therapy is fast approaching clinical utility in treatingcardiovascular disease, although its first application will likely be in obstructed peripheral arteries, rather than in the heart. At the American Heart Association meeting in Orlando (see also pages 20-24), researchers presented details of two new techniques which are already being tested clinically in patients with atherosclerosis of blood vessels in the leg.

Patients with peripheral artery disease often suffer dramatic reductions in mobility despite multiple medical interventions, and there is a pressing need for new therapeutic strategies to try and maintain function and prevent loss of limbs, according to Valentin Fuster, incoming AHA president and director of the cardiovascular institute at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City.

Dr Fuster noted that the following studies represent some of the first times that genetic therapy has been used in humans in the context of cardiovascular diseases. Two strategies are being tried - one to generate collateral blood vessel growth around occluded vessels, and the other to prevent restenosis of vessels which have been cleared after artery bypass grafting. Both strategies could easily be applied to coronary arteries.