Method of gene delivery in large animal models of cardiovascular diseases

Cardiovascular disease is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in contemporary societies. While progress in conventional treatment modalities is making steady and incremental gains to reduce this disease burden, there remains a need to explore new and potentially therapeutic approaches. Gene therapy, which was initially envisioned as a treatment strategy for inherited monogenic disorders, has been found to hold broader potential that also includes acquired polygenic diseases, such as atherosclerosis, arrhythmias, and heart failure. Advances in the understanding of the molecular basis of conditions such as these, together with the evolution of increasingly efficient gene transfer technology, have placed some cardiovascular pathophysiologies within the reach of gene-based therapy. In fact, gene therapy holds great promise as a targeted treatment for cardiovascular diseases. One of the major hurdles for effective cardiovascular gene therapy is the delivery of the viral vectors to the heart. In this chapter, we will present the various types of delivery techniques in preclinical, large animal models of cardiovascular diseases.