OLIGONUCLEOTIDE-BASED GENE-THERAPY FOR CARDIOVASCULAR-DISEASE

Gene therapy is emerging as a potential strategy for the treatment of cardiovascular disease such as restenosis after angioplasty, vascular bypass graft occlusion, transplant coronary vasculopathy, homozygous f amilial hypercholesterolemia and cystic fibrosis, for which no known e ffective therapy exists. Gene therapy requires efficient in vivo gene transfer technology. During the past decade, many gene transfer method s including viral transfer techniques have been developed, and some ar e being applied clinically in human gene therapy studies. Molecular bi ology and pathophysiology of the cardiovascular system have started to emerge, and the time is ripe for the introduction of gene therapy to the management of cardiovascular disorders. In this review, we have fo cused on the future potential of oligonucleotide-based gene therapy fa r the treatment of cardiovascular disease.