Six-Month Assessment of a Phase I Trial of Angiogenic Gene Therapy for the Treatment of Coronary Artery Disease Using Direct Intramyocardial Administration of an Adenovirus Vector Expressing the VEGF121 cDNA

Development of safe and efficient novel nonviral gene transfer using ultrasound: enhancement of transfection efficiency of naked plasmid DNA in skeletal muscle

“…The clinical utility of gene therapy using the VEGF gene has been recently reported for the treatment of critical limb ischemia and myocardial ischemia. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] Instead of VEGF, other angiogenic growth factors such FGF, HGF and a transcription factor for angiogenesis, HIF (hypoxiainducible factor), have been considered candidates for therapeutic angiogenesis as gene therapy for the treatment of patients with critical limb ischemia. [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] Although the feasibility of therapeutic angiogenesis using these angiogenic growth factors has been reported in experimental models and human clinical trials, [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] there are still unresolved problems such as undesirable side-effects.…”

“…Recently, the efficacy of therapeutic angiogenesis using VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) gene transfer has been reported in human patients with critical limb ischemia [4][5][6][7] and myocardial ischemia. [8][9][10][11] In addition to VEGF, the utility of gene transfer of other angiogenic growth factors such as fibroblast growth factor (FGF) or hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) has been reported to stimulate collateral formation. [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] The feasibility of gene therapy using angiogenic growth factors to treat peripheral arterial disease seems to be superior to recombinant protein therapy for the following reasons: (1) It has the potential to maintain an optimally high and local concentration over time.…”

The Role of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor in Wound Healing

“…Plasmid-encoded VEGF injected directly into the myocardium of patients for whom conventional therapy for angina had failed resulted in a reduction of symptoms with improved coronary vasculature 121 . VEGF has shown positive and safe results administered alone or as adjunctive therapy to angioplasty and surgery [122][123][124] . An additional benefit in angioplasty may be secondary to prevention of restenosis in manipulated vessels.…”

Cardiovascular gene delivery: The good road is awaiting☆

“…Rosengart et al have used intramyocardial injection of an adenoviral vector to deliver VEGF121 to patients and reported improvement in angina symptoms and cardiac function, but this study was only a feasibility study without placebo controls [201]. Subsequent animal model data support further investigation of this approach [202,203].…”