US: Test shows new gene therapy for heart disease is safe

AAP General News (Australia)
08-03-1999
US: Test shows new gene therapy for heart disease is safe

EDS: EMBARGOED TO 1100 AEST TUESDAY AUGUST 3



WASHINGTON, Aug 2 AFP - Paving the way for promising heart-disease treatments, the first
human test of a gene therapy injected directly into the oxygen-starved heart muscle has shown
it to be safe, according to a study released today.

"The implications are huge," the study's main author, Todd Rosengart of New York State's
Cornell University, said in "Circulation," the American Heart Association's journal.

"This addresses a tremendous problem of the large number of very sick patients for whom we
can do nothing to help their coronary artery disease," he said.

During the study, which covered 21 heart-disease patients, neither the gene -- which is
meant to expand arteries -- nor the method for administering showed adverse effects.

Scientists also found growth of new blood vessels, which improved blood flow to
oxygen-starved areas of the heart.

But "we don't have enough patients to say anything definite about the effectiveness of
this therapy in treating heart disease," said Ronald Crystal, who is also a Cornell
professor.

Other treatments for heart disease include angioplasty or bypass surgery, but for many
patients the procedures do not work because their disease is too severe or too widespread,
the scientists said.

AFP rsm

KEYWORD: MED HEART (EMBARGOED)

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