Vascular gene therapy

Gene therapy is emerging as a new and exciting therapeutic modality for cardiovascular pathology. The work reported here was carried out in the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) in Bethesda, MD, USA, where genetically engineered endothelial cells were used to seed endovascular prostheses and cell adhesion to the prostheses was tested both in vitro and in vivo. Two catheter based systems were used to deliver genes to the arterial wall cells in vivo, employing retroviral and adenoviral vectors. Efficient gene transfer to vascular cells in vivo was achieved with adenoviral vectors.