Could This Gene Therapy Spell The End Of Heart Transplants?
Posted: August 12, 2014 at 6:43 pm
British scientists have launched a pioneering trial to see whether gene therapy can potentially replace heart transplants.
Lee Adams, a 37-year-old carpenter from Hertfordshire, is the first of 24 patients with advanced heart failure to be recruited.
Like all the other participants, he has been fitted with a mechanical pump to keep his blood flowing while waiting for a suitable donor heart.
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The study is the first in the world to investigate the use of gene therapy in heart failure patients kept alive by a Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD).
Sixteen randomly chosen patients will be treated with a corrective gene to help their hearts beat more strongly. Eight others are to receive a "dummy" placebo therapy.
Mr Adams, who has had an LVAD for more than two and a half years, does not know which group he is in because the trial is "blinded".
He said: "Of course the best thing that could happen would be for my heart function to show signs of improvement and for the gene therapy to prove to be a 'miracle cure' for myself and other patients.
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Could This Gene Therapy Spell The End Of Heart Transplants?