Vectors and delivery systems in gene therapy.

Gene therapy provides modern medicine with new perspectives that were unthinkable two decades ago. Progress in molecular biology and, especially, molecular medicine is now changing the basics of clinical medicine. Reports of long-term side effects of the first successful human gene therapy study have slowed the penetration of DNA usage into clinical routine.

The use of transformed Escherichia coli for experimental angiogenesis induced by regulated in situ production of vascular endothelial growth factor--an alternative gene therapy.

Background: Defects in angiogenesis (blood vessel formation) are responsible for two most important causes of death in developed countries (ischemic heart disease and cancer). Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) plays a pivotal role in physiological and pathological regulation of angiogenesis. In the last years several studies have indicated the possibilities of VEGF in the therapy of ischemic heart disease.