These findings present a new perspective to anticipated positive effects of gene therapies utilizing VEGF, HGF, and bFGF, because the levels of these growth factors are endogenously high in end-stage PAD.
Thus administration of HGF or HGF mimetics may represent a promising therapeutic agent for the treatment of both coronary and peripheral artery disease.
Recently, a Phase III clinical trial of hepatocyte growth factor gene therapy in peripheral artery disease (PAD) showed improvement of ischemic ulcers, but it could not salvage limbs from amputation.
1.There is growing evidence of the beneficial effects of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) in myocardial infarction, heart failure and occlusive peripheral arterial disease.
As intramuscular injection of naked human hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) plasmid DNA induced therapeutic angiogenesis in several animal test subjects, we have started a clinical trial to treat peripheral arterial disease.
Transfection of HGF plasmid by the ultrasound-Optison method could be useful for safe clinical gene therapy to treat peripheral arterial disease without a viral vector system.
In addition, we examined the feasibility of gene therapy by using an angiogenic growth factor, hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), to treat PAD in the presence of high Lp(a).
In this study, we examined the feasibility of gene therapy using HGF to treat peripheral arterial disease rather than recombinant therapy, due to its disadvantages.
Overall, intramuscular injection of human HGF plasmid induced therapeutic angiogenesis in a rat diabetic ischemic hindlimb model as a potential therapy for peripheral arterial disease.