Gene therapy for bypass graft failure and restenosis

Recently, it has become clear that the concept of gene therapy has changed. Whilst it was once thought that gene therapy merely required insertion of a transgene into a gene transfer vector with subsequent delivery to the target tissue to provide a therapeutic effect, this is now entirely too simplistic. Rather, there are many critical steps in the design and implementation of gene medicines and each step requires exhaustive testing and optimisation for a given target disease to increase efficiency and safety. Within cardiovascular diseases there are many potential target pathologies for gene-based interventions. Bypass graft failure and restenosis are two such examples. Copyright (C) 2002 S. Karger AG. Basel.