Copyright © 2006, European Society of Cardiology
AAV vector re-targeting: A small step on the way to cardiac-specific gene transfer
Institut für Herz-und Kreislaufphysiologie, Heinrich-Heine-Universität, Universitätsstr.1, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +49 211 8112675; fax: +49 211 8112675. Email address: Axel.Goedecke@uni-duesseldorf.de
Received 6 February 2006; accepted 9 February 2006
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See article by Müller et al. [8] (pages 70–78) in this issue.
Gene and stem cell therapy are two visions of modern medicine that could have the potential to redirect patient treatment from a pharmacological/interventional to a molecular approach. The idea behind both strategies is the perspective to causally treat disease. Both visions are attractive, both promise causal therapies. Therefore, it is not too astonishing that both approaches have caused hopes and hypes. However, as sometimes observed when a new field moves from the first spectacular results into broader investigation, problems and pitfalls become apparent that dampen the expectations of fast solutions.
In 1999, the field of gene therapy was shaken by the case of Jesse Gelsinger, who died in a clinical gene therapy trial for liver disease. Three years later, in French clinical