Vascular gene transfer.

Vascular gene transfer may be useful for the treatment of several cardiovascular diseases. It can also be used as an experimental tool to test the effects of various genes in a local vascular compartment. Promising therapeutic effects have been obtained in animal models of restenosis with the transfer of vascular endothelial growth factor, nitric oxide synthase, thymidine kinase, retinoblastoma, growth arrest homeobox gene, cyclin/cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor (p21), and hirudin genes, and antisense oligonucleotides against transcription factors or cell cycle regulatory proteins. Vascular endothelial growth factor and fibroblast growth factor gene transfers have improved blood flow and capillary development in models of ischaemic limb and myocardium. First experiences of vascular endothelial growth factor gene transfer to human peripheral arteries have also been reported. However, further developments in gene delivery techniques and gene transfer vectors will be required before a full therapeutic potential of gene therapy in cardiovascular diseases can be evaluated.