Gene therapy for coronary artery disease: The University of Michigan Program.

Recent studies show that the cyclin dependent kinase inhibitor KIP/CIP family members function as regulators of VSMC proliferation. The prevention and treatment of cell proliferation in arteries after percutaneous intervention, represents an attractive target for gene therapy. Targeting of cell cycle regulatory proteins might inhibit cell proliferation and migration, and induce withdrawal from the cell cycle. Furthermore, these studies suggest that genetic approaches are feasible and that local expression of a regulatory gene is sufficient to abrogate lesion formation in different animal models of vascular diseases.