Gene therapy for cardiovascular diseases

Few disciplines in medicine will have as great an impact as molecular biolo gy. Since the introduction of these techniques in cardiology multiple patho physiologic pathways of cardiac diseases have been better elucidated. We ha ve been very successful in prolonging life and providing better care for ca rdiac patients in the last 50 years. We could even consider that convention al therapy has reached its peak; but the new developments in molecular biol ogy have sparked an increase in the knowledge of basic mechanisms of cardia c disease, which is likely to markedly improve diagnostic and therapeutic a pproaches. Nevertheless, it may be some time before we achieve a significan t breakthrough in the therapy of these diseases, despite the progress in mo lecular and computational techniques. Gene therapy has not shown enthusiast ic results, but we must be reminded that the application of these technique s to medicine is only the beginning.