Genetic therapy for vein bypass graft disease: current perspectives.

Although continued progress in endovascular technology holds promise for less invasive approaches to arterial diseases, surgical bypass grafting remains the mainstay of therapy for patients with advanced coronary and peripheral ischemia. In the United States, nearly 400,000 coronary and 100,000 lower extremity bypass procedures are performed annually. The autogenous vein, particularly the greater saphenous vein, has proven to be a durable and versatile arterial substitute, with secondary patency rates at 5 years of 70 to 80% in the extremity.

Targeting platelet aggregation: CD39 gene transfer augments nucleoside triphosphate diphosphohydrolase activity in injured rabbit arteries.

Background: CD39, the major endothelial nucleoside triphosphate diphosphohydrolase (NTPDase), plays an important role in local thromboregulation. We hypothesized that balloon injury (BI) leads to an acute reduction in arterial NTPDase activity that could be restored by a targeted gene delivery strategy.

Methods: Recombinant adenoviral vectors containing human CD39 (Ad-CD39) or beta-galactosidase (Ad-LacZ) were used.