Gene Therapy May Aid Heart Disease

French scientists are assessing the possibility of utilizing nuclear medicine with gene therapy to fight heart disease.

Earlier research suggested a beneficial effect of Cyr61, a cysteine-rich, angiogenic-inducer protein, in lab rabbits modified with ischemic limb disease. No data, however, have been available on using Cyr61 in vivo to combat chronic myocardial ischemia (insufficient blood and oxygen flow to the heart muscle).

"Cyr61 gene transfer appears potent in stimulation of myocardial angiogenesis--a novel gene therapeutic approach that seeks to induce the growth of new blood vessels in areas of the heart that are not sufficiently supplied by blood due to severe coronary artery disease,” stated Pascal Merlet, M.D., Ph.D., from the nuclear medicine department, Hopital Bichat (Paris, France;). "Our findings suggest that Cyr61 could be a therapeutic candidate for treating severe myocardial ischemic disease.”

The scientists studied Cyr61's effect in a porcine model of ischemic heart disease and presented their findings at the Society of Nuclear Medicine's 52nd annual meeting held in Toronto (Canada) in June 2005. "This is exciting news,” remarked Josef Machac, M.D., director of the Clinical PET [positron emission tomography] Center and Nuclear Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine (New York, NY, USA). "Molecular or nuclear imaging, with its use of radiopharmaceuticals and high imaging sensitivity, is in a unique position to study molecular and vascular biology.”