insight
Nature 415, 234-239 (10 January 2002) | doi:10.1038/415234a
Myocardial gene therapy
a*We regret the sad news that Dr Jeffrey Isner died suddenly during the latter stages of preparing his Insight Review Article. Nature's editors and colleagues of Dr Isner agreed that his review should be published, and permission to proceed has kindly been given by Dr Isner's next-of-kin. Nature carries sole responsibility for editorial changes made to the article during the production process.
Abstract
Gene therapy is proving likely to be a viable alternative to conventional therapies in coronary artery disease and heart failure. Phase 1 clinical trials indicate high levels of safety and clinical benefits with gene therapy using angiogenic growth factors in myocardial ischaemia. Although gene therapy for heart failure is still at the pre-clinical stage, experimental data indicate that therapeutic angiogenesis using short-term gene expression may elicit functional improvement in affected individuals.
- Department of Medicine, Divisions of Cardiology, Vascular Medicine, and Cardiovascular Research, St Elizabeth's Medical Center, Tufts School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts 02135, USA
