Endothelial Modulation for Angiogenic Therapy

Summary

Coronary artery disease is the single most important killer of Canadians. Despite major advances in therapy, there is still a significant proportion of patients identified with the disease who die of it because current treatment approaches cannot effectively palliate their condition. A new treatment modality called therapeutic angiogenesis has appeared on the clinical research scene during the last five years; this approach recreates the natural processes of new blood vessel formation that is observed during growth and development in every human being. It is an extremely potent and promising modality, but so far the results of clinical trials in patients have been equivocal.

One reason for the limited efficacy observed thus far with therapeutic angiogenesis may rest in that factors produced by the lining of the coronary arteries themselves are essential for angiogenic substances to take effect in the heart muscle of patients with severe coronary artery disease. These same patients, however, virtually all have, as a result of their disease, marked dysfunction of their coronaries and therefore fail to produce these factors in adequate quantities. This hypothesis has been verified with extensive animal data by the investigators of this research, where a swine model of coronary disease was shown to severely inhibit the action of angiogenic growth factors. If one wants angiogenesis to work, a means of improving the function of the coronary lining of patients with severe ischemic heart disease must be identified and its effects evaluated in order to allow for angiogenic substances to exert their action towards successful revascularization of the heart muscle.

An amino acid called L-arginine has repeatedly been shown to markedly improve function of the coronary artery lining in patients with ischemic heart disease when administered regularly over a period of several months. This research will therefore test, in the form of a randomized clinical trial, whether this concomitant approach can make angiogenesis effective in patients with advanced coronary disease, by allowing for the action of growth factors to take place in the heart. If this approach is successful, as is anticipated, angiogenesis will constitute an effective modality for the treatment of coronary artery disease, not only in patients with advanced, severe involvement unamenable to any other form of cardiac therapy such as coronary artery bypass grafting, but even perhaps in all patients with coronary artery disease in need of revascularization. The goal of this investigation towards the making of a new, revolutionary, safe and efficacious modality for the treatment of the number one killer disease of Canadians is in complete agreement with the primary objective of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.

Conditions

• Coronary Artery Disease

Interventions

GENETIC

intramyocardial VEGF angiogenesis (at a dose of 2 mg)

DRUG

oral L-arginine supplementation (at a dose of 6 g/day)

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario

  collaborator OTHER

• Ottawa Heart Institute Research Corporation

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Marc Ruel, MD MPH FRCSC · Ottawa Heart Institute Research Corporation

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

FACTORIAL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2004-11-30

Primary Completion

2007-03-31

Completion

2007-10-31

Countries

• Canada

Study Locations