Thus, our study provides proof of principle that nanoparticle-mediated delivery increases the angiogenic and therapeutic potency of VEGF for the treatment of ischemic heart disease.
For that, mouse BM cells were transduced with lentiviral vectors coding for <i>VEGFA</i> or sphingosine kinase (<i>SPHK1)</i>, which catalyzes S1P production, and injected them intravenously 4 and 7 days after cardiac ischemia-reperfusion in mice.
Recently, the efficacy of therapeutic angiogenesis using VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) gene transfer has been reported in human patients with critical limb ischemia and myocardial ischemia.
Currently, about 200 patients have been treated with intramyocardial VEGF gene therapy for peripheral occlusive artery disease or for myocardial ischemia.
These findings show that dysregulated angiogenic precursors link coronary anomalies to ischemic heart disease.Though coronary arteries are crucial for heart function, the mechanisms guiding their formation are largely unknown.Here, Wang et al. identify a unique, endocardially-derived angiogenic precursor cell population for coronary artery formation in mice and show that a DLL4/NOTCH1/VEGFA/VEGFR2 signaling axis is key for coronary artery development.
We initiated a phase 1 clinical study to determine the safety and bioactivity of direct myocardial gene transfer of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) as sole therapy for patients with symptomatic myocardial ischemia.
We initiated a phase 1 clinical study to determine the safety and bioactivity of direct myocardial gene transfer of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) as sole therapy for patients with symptomatic myocardial ischemia.