AHA Meeting Coverage

REVASC: Efficacy and Safety of Gene Therapy in Patients With Advanced Coronary Artery Disease and No Options for Revascularization
The administration of AdVEGF121 significantly improved exercise capacity and symptomatology in CAD patients, and the effect was durable, with continuous improvement from 3 to 6 months.

Italian
Studio REVASC: efficacia e sicurezza della terapia genica in pazienti con coronaropatia avanzata e non opzione alla rivascolarizzazione
Linda Brookes, MSc

Cell- and gene-based therapies for heart failure: getting the science right
When it comes to the role and potential effects of cell and gene therapies for heart failure, expert opinions range from cautious optimism to tempered skepticism. New data using endothelial progenitor and bone marrow derived cells shows promise. 
Heart Failure Society of America's 6th Annual Scientific Meeting. [ Sep 24, 2002 ]

TCT 2002 Expert Presentations

ESC 2002 Meeting Coverage

Stem Cell Transplantation -- Not Ready for Prime Time
David Good

New study of myoblast transfer shows feasibility but puts spotlight on arrhythmia
Polish researchers report a new series of 10 post-MI patients who underwent skeletal myoblast transfer, concluding the approach is feasible, with some indication of increased contractility in infarcted segments. However, 2 cases of arrhythmia, combined with 4 seen in the first French series of 10 patients, raise a question about safety, but phase 2 trials are going ahead. 

XIVth World Congress of Cardiology.
Gene, cell therapies for CVD: A realistic goal?
A joint NHLBI/World Heart Federation symposium here focused on the state of the art in gene and cell therapies for cardiovascular disease, both reflecting on the seminal work of the late Jeffrey Isner and considering the question of whether gene therapies for CVD still represent a realistic goal. 
[ May 09, 2002 ]

BELIEF trial confirms benefit of PMR for intractable angina, company says
Percutaneous myocardial revascularization, a technique that drills small holes in the myocardium with a laser, maintains "significant" relief from severe angina out to 12 months, the company marketing the technique, has announced. Their claim is based on 1-year follow-up data from the Blinded Evaluation of Laser PMR Intervention Electively for Angina Pectoris (BELIEF) trial.
[ Mar 01, 2002 ]

Summaries of important articles from major peer-reviewed journals

Promising results but still many unanswered questions for angiogenesis: TRAFFIC trial published
The first placebo-controlled angiogenesis trial to show a significant clinical therapeutic effect on its primary end point has been published, but the agent involved may not be developed further 
Lederman et al. Lancet 2002; 359: 2053-2058. [ Jun 14, 2002 ]

Bone-marrow transplants repair infarcted myocardium
with slide / Catheter transplantation of bone-marrow cells into 10 patients 5 to 9 days post-MI resulted in a decreased infarct region and improved wall motion and cardiac function after 3 months. 
Circulation 2002; 106: published online before print September 6, 2002 [ Sep 09, 2002 ]

Gene therapy to treat angina appears safe: AGENT trial published
Results from the Angiogenic GENe Therapy (AGENT) trial, first presented at the 2001 American College of Cardiology 50th Annual Scientific Session and reported in heartwire, appear in a rapid access publication of Circulation. As investigators said then, gene therapy for angina is safe, effective, and shows definite promise. 
Grines C et al. Circulation 2002; 10.1161/hc1102.105595. [ Feb 25, 2002 ]

More proof of the potential of cardiac cells to regenerate reported
German investigators have found cardiomyocytes of noncardiac origin in myocardial biopsies of human transplanted hearts. Their discovery adds to the accumulating evidence that the human heart can regenerate itself - in this case by recruiting cells from other areas of the body. 
Muller P et al. Circulation 2002. 105; published online before print May 28, 2002. [ Jun 05, 2002 ]

Autologous bone-marrow stem-cell transplantation for myocardial regeneration
Stamm C, et al.
Lancet 2003;361:45-6
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=12517467 
Implantation of bone-marrow stem cells in the heart might be a new method to restore tissue viability after myocardial infarction. The Authors injected up to 1.5x10(6) autologous AC133+ bone-marrow cells into the infarct border zone in six patients who had had a myocardial infarction and undergone coronary artery bypass grafting. 3-9 months after surgery, all patients were alive and well, global left-ventricular function was enhanced in four patients, and infarct tissue perfusion had improved strikingly in five patients. Implantation of AC133+ stem cells to the heart is safe and might induce angiogenesis, thus improving perfusion of the infarcted myocardium

Transplantation of Progenitor Cells and Regeneration Enhancement in Acute Myocardial Infarction (TOPCARE-AMI)
Birgit Assmus et al
Circulation 2002;106 3009-3017
http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/106/24/3009?etoc 
In patients with AMI, intracoronary infusion of autologous progenitor cells appears to be feasible and safe and may beneficially affect postinfarction remodeling processes.

Chimerism of the Transplanted Heart
Federico Quaini, M.D || Piero Anversa, M.D.
N Engl J Med 2002;346:5-15
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/346/1/5  
Eight male patients received cardiac transplants from female donors. In samples from these hearts, the investigators were able to detect Y chromosomes in about 10 percent of the myocytes, proving that they came from the male recipients. These results show that cells from the recipient are able to migrate into the donor heart and take up residence. Some of the Y-chromosome–positive cells were primitive and had the capacity to proliferate.
The origin of the cells that migrated from the recipient to the transplanted heart is uncertain, but this study raises the possibility that primitive cells from the recipient may migrate to the donor heart and participate in the remodeling process.

Related Perspective
Can the Heart Repair Itself?
R.S. Schwartz and G.D. Curfman
N Engl J Med  2002;346:2-4
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/346/1/2?query=TOC 

Related Editorial
Regeneration of the Human Heart -- No Chimera?
R. Bolli
N Engl J Med  2002;346:55-56
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/346/1/55?query=TOC

A prospective, multicenter, randomized trial of percutaneous transmyocardial laser revascularization in patients with nonrecanalizable chronic total occlusions
Stone GW, et al.
J Am Coll Cardiol 2002;39:1581-7.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/htbin-post/Entrez/query?db=m&form=6&dopt=r&uid=12020483
In patients with class III or IV angina caused by nonrecanalizable CTOs, the performance of percutaneous transmyocardial revascularization (PTMR) does not result in a greater reduction in angina, improvement in exercise duration or survival free of adverse cardiac events, as compared with maximal medical therapy (MMT) only.

Local intracoronary administration of antisense oligonucleotide against c-myc for the prevention of in-stent restenosis: results of the randomized investigation by the Thoraxcenter of antisense DNA using local delivery and IVUS after coronary stenting (ITALICS) trial
Kutryk MJ, et al.
J Am Coll Cardiol 2002;39:281-7.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/htbin-post/Entrez/query?db=m&form=6&dopt=r&uid=11788220
Treatment with 10 mg of phosphorothioate-modified ODN directed against c-myc does not reduce neointimal volume obstruction or the angiographic restenosis rate in this patient population.