Effect of Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor Treatment at a Low Dose but for a Long Duration in Patients With Coronary Heart Disease

Therapeutic myocardial angiogenesis

“…After 3 months patients showed improved LVEF without any severe side effect but the MAGIC trial (Kang et al 2004), reported soon after, revealed that patients treated with G-CSF presented an unexpectedly high rate of in-stent restenosis. This side effect has been shown to be avoided in 2 studies using lower dose of G-CSF (3-5 μg/kg/day) (Valgimigli et al 2005;Suzuki et al 2006). And the largest study to date using G-CSF therapy (10 μg/day/kg) and involving 114 patients did not demonstrate a significant increase of restenosis in the GCSF group compared with the control (Zohlnhofer et al 2006).…”

Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor A Noninvasive Regeneration Therapy for Treating Atherosclerotic Peripheral Artery Disease

“…20 Moreover, the involvement of endothelial precursor cells in the mechanism of restoring blood flow was confirmed by our previous clinical study, which demonstrated that G-CSF injection also improved blood flow in ischemic myocardium. 21 It is well known that G-CSF contributes to the healing of myocardial infarction, 7 diabetic ulcers of the skin, 22 and ischemic necrosis resulting from doxorubicin extravasation. 23,24 A recent study also demonstrated that intramuscular injection of G-CSF induced angiogenesis through mechanisms independent of EPC mobilization.…”

Mobilizing the fountain of youth within

“…There was, however, an increased incidence of restenosis and vascular occlusive events in patients treated with higher dose therapy. 6,7 Although the use of G-CSF to repair/regenerate myocardial tissue is not new, the publication by Toyama and associates has several novel features. Previous studies have generally used G-CSF in patients following an acute coronary event.…”