Molecular Medicine Laboratory, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology,Padriciano 99, Trieste, Italy.
Gene Ther. 2012 Jun;19(6):622-9. doi: 10.1038/gt.2012.17. Epub 2012 Mar 1.
Despite the enormous progress made in terms of prevention and early intervention, a pressing need remains to develop innovative therapeutic strategies for ischemic cardiovascular disorders, including acute myocardial infarction, chronic cardiac ischemia, peripheral artery disease and stroke. The induction of new blood vessel formation by delivering angiogenic genes to ischemic tissues continues to appear as a promising, alternative strategy to currently available therapies. In aspiring to induce therapeutic angiogenesis, the members of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) family have long been recognized as major molecular tools. Remarkably, VEGF family members have recently been recognized to also exert multiple, non-angiogenic effects on various cell types, including neurons, skeletal muscle and cardiac cells. Here, we critically review the VEGF-based therapies that have already reached clinical experimentation and highlight the pleiotropic activities of VEGF factors that might create new opportunities for therapeutic application.
尽管在预防和早期干预方面取得了巨大进展，但仍迫切需要开发创新的治疗策略来治疗缺血性心血管疾病，包括急性心肌梗死、慢性心肌缺血、外周动脉疾病和中风。将血管生成基因递送至缺血组织中以诱导新血管形成，似乎仍然是一种有前途的替代现有治疗方法的策略。在寻求诱导治疗性血管生成时，血管内皮生长因子 (VEGF) 家族成员长期以来一直被认为是主要的分子工具。值得注意的是，VEGF 家族成员最近也被认为对各种细胞类型（包括神经元、骨骼肌和心肌细胞）具有多种非血管生成作用。在这里，我们批判性地回顾了已经进入临床实验的基于 VEGF 的治疗方法，并强调了 VEGF 因子的多效性活性，这可能为治疗应用创造新的机会。
