[Cardiovascular molecular genetics and gene therapy. Introduction to the terminology and technique]

The possible application of somatic gene therapy to the treatment of cardiovascular diseases is introduced; methods and delivery systems for transferring genes to the sites of application are discussed. Although cardiovascular diseases are mainly systemic disorders, critical lesions are frequently located at specific sites in the circulation and therefore accessible to the introduction of recombinant genes which may encode for proteins either inhibiting cell proliferation or promoting cell division. Cell-mediated gene transfer is compared to direct gene transfer in vivo; the advantages and disadvantages of the "ex vivo-in vitro-in vivo" and "direct in vivo" techniques are described. Several alternative gene transfer techniques are known. They include viral and retroviral vectors which have been made replication defective by genetic engineering, as well as non-viral systems such as DNA-liposome complexes, and physical methods such as the so-called biolistic technology originally developed to penetrate plant cell membranes. In summary, it is pointed out that even demonstrations of the few successful therapeutic applications to date do not conceal the fact that intensive experimental research using animal models is needed to prove the advantages and safety of the techniques used in gene therapy of the cardiovascular system.