Cells 2012, 1(4), 961-975; doi:10.3390/cells1040961
Abstract

Cell and Gene Therapy Approaches for Cardiac Vascularization

Ludovic Melly 1,2 email, Stefano Boccardo 3 email, Friedrich Eckstein 2 email, Andrea Banfi 1 email and Anna Marsano 1,* email
1 Cell and Gene Therapy, Department of Biomedicine and Department of Surgery, Basel University Hospital, Basel 4031, Switzerland 2 Cardiac Surgery, Department of Surgery, Basel University Hospital, Basel 4031, Switzerland 3 Department of Robotics, Brain & Cognitive Sciences, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova 16163, Italy
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 13 September 2012; in revised form: 16 October 2012 / Accepted: 25 October 2012 / Published: 5 November 2012
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tissue and Organ Regeneration)
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Abstract: Despite encouraging preclinical results for therapeutic angiogenesis in ischemia, a suitable approach providing sustained, safe and efficacious vascular growth in the heart is still lacking. Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) is the master regulator of angiogenesis, but it also can easily induce aberrant and dysfunctional vascular growth if its expression is not tightly controlled. Control of the released level in the microenvironment around each cell in vivo and its distribution in tissue are critical to induce stable and functional vessels for therapeutic angiogenesis. The present review discusses the limitations and perspectives of VEGF gene therapy and of different cell-based approaches for the implementation of therapeutic angiogenesis in the treatment of cardiac ischemia.
Keywords: angiogenesis; VEGF controlled release; cell therapy; gene therapy; cell-based gene therapy; cardiac tissue engineering; cardiac ischemia

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Cite This Article

MDPI and ACS Style

Melly, L.; Boccardo, S.; Eckstein, F.; Banfi, A.; Marsano, A. Cell and Gene Therapy Approaches for Cardiac Vascularization. Cells 2012, 1, 961-975.

AMA Style

Melly L, Boccardo S, Eckstein F, Banfi A, Marsano A. Cell and Gene Therapy Approaches for Cardiac Vascularization. Cells. 2012; 1(4):961-975.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Melly, Ludovic; Boccardo, Stefano; Eckstein, Friedrich; Banfi, Andrea; Marsano, Anna. 2012. "Cell and Gene Therapy Approaches for Cardiac Vascularization." Cells 1, no. 4: 961-975.

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