Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is an important active protein for the induction of angiogenesis and improvement in cardiac function after myocardial ischemia; however, the lack of a delivery system targeted to the injured myocardium reduces the local therapeutic efficacy of VEGF and increases its possible adverse effects.
We aimed to investigate the correlation between the levels of circulating miR-214 and the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the pathogenesis of coronary heart disease patients to further explore the mechanism involved in the vasculogenesis.
We examined two VEGF polymorphisms, including +405 C/G (rs2010963) and -2578C/A (rs699947), to assess their relation to the extent of coronary atherosclerosis.
Thymosin beta-4 (TB4) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) are linked to adult epicardial progenitor cell mobilization and neovascularization and is cardioprotective after myocardial ischemia.
In univariate analysis, all three VEGF polymorphisms (460C, 1154A, and 2578A) were significantly associated with a higher prevalence of coronary artery disease (P < .01) and greater frequencies of hypertension were found in carriers of the 1154A allele and the 2578A allele (P = .01).
Several clinical trials based on intramyocardial injection of VEGF DNA in patients with otherwise inoperable coronary artery disease and intractable angina pectoris have recently been completed.
This report summarizes a phase I clinical experience with a gene-therapy strategy that used an E1(-)E3(-) adenovirus (Ad) gene-transfer vector expressing human vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) 121 cDNA (Ad(GV)VEGF121.10) to induce therapeutic angiogenesis in the myocardium of individuals with clinically significant coronary artery disease.
Genotyping for VEGF gene +405 G>C polymorphism was performed in 64 patients with coronary artery disease at a mean age of 66 years (76.6% males), with a mean EuroSCORE (European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation) of 2.5 (0-2 points: 50% patients, 3-4: 25%, > or =5 points: 25%), who underwent CABG surgery.
Expression profile of total VEGF, VEGF splice variants and VEGF receptors in the myocardium and arterial vasculature of diabetic and non-diabetic patients with coronary artery disease.
Currently, about 200 patients have been treated with intramyocardial VEGF gene therapy for peripheral occlusive artery disease or for myocardial ischemia.
The central role of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in angiogenesis in health and disease makes it attractive both as a therapeutic target for anti-angiogenic drugs and as a pro-angiogenic cytokine for the treatment of ischaemic heart disease.
Because hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1alpha is a transcriptional activator of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and is critical for initiating angiogenic responses to hypoxia, we investigated the expression of HIF-1alpha and VEGF in specimens of human heart tissue to elucidate the molecular responses to myocardial ischemia in diabetic patients during unstable angina.
Recent experiments performed in this same porcine model of myocardial ischemia have shown that direct intramyocardial gene transfer of naked plasmid DNA encoding VEGF (phVEGF(165), the identical plasmid used in our previous animal and human clinical trials) can be safely and successfully achieved through a minimally invasive chest wall incision.
In this brief review, the role of a prime angiogenic candidate, namely vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its homologues, in physiological and pathological angiogenesis will be discussed with particular attention to myocardial ischemia and heart failure.