A novel gene therapy that responds specifically to oxygen-starved heart muscle may protect against further injury following a heart attack, a study by University of South Florida cardiovascular researchers found. Their findings are reported in the April 2004 issue of the journal Hypertension. M. Ian Phillips, PhD, DSc, and his team at the USF College of Medicine and All Children’s Hospital Research Institute designed a kind of oxygen-sensitive biosensor that turns on protective genes when signs of oxygen deprivation indicate a heart attack and turns the genes off once blood flow restores adequate oxygen levels to the heart. Dr. Phillips, principal investigator; Yao Liang Tang, MD, lead author; and colleagues showed that this biosensor-regulated gene therapy protected heart muscle cells in mice with heart attacks from further injury.
