Gene Therapy for Pulmonary Hypertension
May 17, 2016 | Terry Sharrer
Lung tissue is amenable to aerosol delivery of therapeutics. This piece describes how researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and collaborators, used an aerosol delivery of gene therapy to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension in large laboratory animals (Yorkshire pigs). The gene therapy involved recombining a gene called SERCA2a (a sarcoplasmic endoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase gene) into an adeno-associated viral vector. The result was correction of abnormal calcium levels and proliferation of smooth muscle cells in blood vessels, for a duration of at least eight weeks. MORE
Image Credit: en.wikipedia.org