title: Arteriogenic gene therapy in patients with unreconstructable critical limb ischemia: a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial of adenovirus 5-delivered fibroblast growth factor-4.
abstract: The objectives of this study were to assess the safety and potential clinical efficacy of adenovirus-delivered fibroblast growth factor-4 (Ad5FGF-4) by intramuscular injection into patients with critical limb ischemia (CLI). This study was a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study with escalating dose groups of 2.87 x 10(8) to 2.87 x 10(10) viral particles. Thirteen patients with CLI were randomized to receive active drug (n = 10) or placebo (n = 3). Safety evaluations and efficacy parameters (ankle-brachial index, digital subtraction angiograms, magnetic resonance imaging, and scintigraphy) were performed at baseline and for 12 weeks after treatment. Injections of Ad5FGF-4 were generally well tolerated and considered safe. Transfection efficacy at these concentrations may have been limited or local. The small sample size did not allow any firm conclusions regarding clinical efficacy but a trend toward more and slightly larger blood vessels was observed in the angiograms. It is concluded that intramuscular injection of Ad5FGF-4 into CLI patients seemed safe, but transfection efficacy was limited at the assessed doses. Conclusions regarding clinical efficacy are impossible to draw from this small patient cohort.
authors.affiliation: Borsod County Hospital, H-3501 Miskolc, Hungary.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Matyas
authors.forename: K-L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Schulte
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Dormandy
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Norgren
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Sowade
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Grötzbach
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Palmer-Kazen
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Rubanyi
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Wahlberg
mesh_terms: D000256:Adenoviridae; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005121:Extremities / Q000098:blood supply*; D005260:Female; D015316:Genetic Therapy / Q000379:methods; D005822:Genetic Vectors / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D006801:Humans; D007273:Injections, Intramuscular; D007511:Ischemia / Q000378:metabolism / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged