Philadelphia. Someday, weak-heart people will be able to use gene therapy to prevent further deterioration of a coronary artery condition. Gene therapy is also hoped to assist in treating major heart diseases.

Tests on pigs conducted by Mr. Levi, a researcher from Philadelphian Child’s Hospital (PChH), have shown that the DNA genes added with stents can successfully be fixed to artery wall of tested animals.

“This is the first example of successful gene transfer to animals. It have helped

to successfully carry out operations on blood vessels”, said the director of the PChH’s Cardiology Pediatric Research laboratory. “This methodology is vital for treating coronary artery diseases with a help of gene therapy”.

Stents are typically used for effecting plastic operations on vessels to partly block coronary arteries. When a small air bubble has been introduced through a cather, the said bubble is than expanded to enlarge a shrunk vessel (an ordinary procedure in plastic operations on vessels). However, in appr. 30% of all the cases, stents damage artery, and vessel cells have to recover over months. At the same time, new thrombus are frequently formed.

The gene therapy method Mr. Levi has developed and uses provides for introduction of a gene or gene combination to facilitate control over blood vessel damage and prevent further cells rehabilitation growth on the artery wall. “Researches on this subject has to be continued to identify genes which would bring best results, if the newly-developed method is applied”, said Mr. Levi. The tests on animals have proved the feasibility of the gene therapy method.

Unlike other approaches in gene therapy, which presume application of viruses as a vehicle for incorporating the cells into the proper place in the DNA structure, Mr. Levi’s team uses the DNA only within a film decomposing by microorganisms; the said film covers metal stents. The new methodology enables to effect control over artificially-changed cells and doesn’t let them go outside the certain boundaries (in this particular case, outside arteries). In contrast, virus-based methodologies can’t stop distribution of the changed cells throughout the organism.

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