Although gene therapy has sounded good in theory, scientists and doctors haven't been able to fully test it - until recently, thanks to the innovative experimental treatments of Dr. James Symes of St. Elizabeth's Hospital at Tufts University in Boston, MA. This use of recombinant DNA to repair previously irreparable tissues will not only save lives, but will inevitably lead to other, more advanced treatments.

Dr. Symes injected the new gene phVEGF165 (for Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor) into the hearts of twenty patients in fall/winter of 1998. Each of the patients had suffered from extreme chest pains and heart attacks, the results of a blood-deprived hearts. Every patient had also undergone unsuccessful bypass surgeries and were told that nothing more could be done to fix their hearts. The genetic therapy helped nineteen out of the twenty patients, the last patient having died of pneumonia shortly after her operation. Symes said that, although her death was a complication of the surgery, it had nothing to do with the experimental gene therapy. Seventy percent of the patients were completely free of pain after six months time, and all had reduced their nitroglycerin (given to treat chest pains caused by blocked blood vessels) doses; the average new dosage was 2.5 pills a day compared to the original sixty pills a day.

The new gene stimulates the growth of microscopic blood vessels within three weeks after the operation. Although too small to see, the blood vessels reconnect parts of the heart and allow blood to flow around the damaged areas.

Even though Symes was reluctant to draw any conclusions beyond the scope of his experiment, he is very optimistic and hopes that this success will lead to more successes. The treatment has the potential to cure the approximate 250,000 annual untreatable patients with blocked blood flow to the heart.