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For those interested.
Bob from Houston
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Date: Mon, 30 Mar 1998 20:49:23 -0500
Reply-To: Spinal Cord Injury Peer Net <scipin-l(AT)health.state.ny.us>
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From: Spinal Cord Injury Peer Net <scipin-l(AT)health.state.ny.us>
X-From: Maxim Bily <imax(AT)ODYSSEE.NET>
Subject: Gene Therapy Generates Blood Vessels
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Gene Therapy Generates Blood Vessels
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Gene therapy to treat blocked
blood vessels in the leg continues to have encouraging results
for a group of patients who otherwise might face amputation
of the affected limb.
Dr. Jeffrey Isner and colleagues at St. Elizabeth's Medical
Center, Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston,
Massachusetts, published an update on their ongoing
research in the current issue Circulation: Journal of the
American Heart Association. The treatment, known as
therapeutic angiogenesis, stimulates the growth of new blood
vessels in the legs of people with critical limb ischemia, a
condition in which fatty plaques obstruct blood flow.
About 500 to 1,000 per 1 million people develop the
condition annually, which causes leg pain even at rest and
difficult-to-heal ulcers.
The researchers have now treated a total of 29 patients, with
success in about two thirds of cases. These results are
encouraging, given that the only other option for the patients
is amputation, according to Isner.
The researchers injected copies of the gene that makes
human vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) directly
into the calf or thigh muscles of the patient's affected leg.
VEGF is a naturally-occurring growth factor that stimulates
blood vessel growth in the body.
In the published study of nine patients, blood flow improved
in 8 of the 10 treated legs. New blood vessels were
observed in 7 of 10 treated legs according to angiography
(an x-ray based blood vessel imaging technique).
As the trial continues, the researchers have made two
unexpected findings. There has been a good response to the
therapy in patients with premature atherosclerosis, an
inflammatory disease of the blood vessels that usually affects
young men. There currently are no effective treatments for
this condition.
Another group of patients with sensory neuropathy, a loss of
feeling in the feet, also have improved with gene therapy.
This was a surprise to the researchers, since sensory
neuropathy "has traditionally been considered irreversible,"
Isner said.
SOURCE: Circulation (1998;97:1114-1123)
-- Maksim (Max) Bilymail to: imax(AT)odyssee.net
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