The future of hypertension therapy: Sense, antisense, or nonsense?

Hypertension is a debilitating disease with significant socioeconomic and e motional impact. Despite recent success in the development of traditional p harmacotherapy for the management of hypertension, the incidence of this di sease is on the rise and has reached epidemic proportions by all estimates. This has led many to conclude that traditional pharmacotherapy has reached an intellectual plateau, and novel approaches for the treatment and contro l of hypertension must be explored. We have begun to investigate the possib ility of treating and/or curing hypertension by using genetic means. In thi s review, we will provide evidence in favor of targeting of the renin-angio tensin system by antisense gene therapy as an effective strategy for the li felong prevention of hypertension in the spontaneously hypertensive rat mod el, In addition, we will discuss the properties of an ideal vector for the systemic delivery of genes and the potential experimental hurdles that must be overcome to take this innovative approach to the next level of evaluati on.