Attramadal H, Berg K
MSD Kardiovaskulaert Forskningssenter Rikshospitalet 0027 Oslo.
Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen. 2001 Feb 10;121(4):489-91.
Cardiovascular disease is the most frequent cause of death in the western hemisphere. Although significant advances in pharmacotherapy have been achieved, the morbidity and mortality of cardiovascular disease will probably remain a scourge of affluent societies for many years to come. This situation gives the scientific community and the pharmaceutical industry an impetus to develop novel therapeutical strategies. Gene therapy is a principle which may provide new means of targeting the pathophysiological mechanisms of cardiovascular disease and has recently drawn a lot of scientific attention, as the endothelial cells of the vasculature are in direct contact with the blood. Thus, many of the obstacles which are thought to hamper gene delivery may not apply in this system. Although there are many ongoing gene therapy trials in this patient group, the results that have so far been reported are from early phase studies (phase I and II studies) only. The published reports have investigated to what extent the growth factors vascular endothelial growth factor and fibroblast growth factor may improve revascularization in ischaemic myocardial tissue. Although the preliminary results are promising, it should be pointed out that phase III trials have not yet been started in this disease group.
心血管疾病是西半球最常见的死亡原因。尽管药物治疗已取得显著进展，但在未来许多年里，心血管疾病的发病率和死亡率可能仍将是富裕社会的一大祸害。这种情况促使科学界和制药行业开发新的治疗策略。基因治疗是一种可能为针对心血管疾病的病理生理机制提供新方法的原理，最近受到了科学界的广泛关注，因为血管系统的内皮细胞与血液直接接触。因此，许多被认为阻碍基因传递的障碍在这个系统中可能并不适用。尽管针对该患者群体有许多正在进行的基因治疗试验，但迄今为止报告的结果仅来自早期研究（I期和II期研究）。已发表的报告研究了生长因子血管内皮生长因子和成纤维细胞生长因子在多大程度上可以改善缺血心肌组织的血管再生。尽管初步结果很有希望，但应该指出的是，该疾病组尚未开始III期试验。
