Gene therapy is proving likely to be a viable alternative to conventional therapies in
coronary artery disease and heart failure. Phase 1 clinical trials indicate high levels of safety
and clinical benefits with gene therapy using angiogenic growth factors in myocardial
ischaemia. Although gene therapy for heart failure is still at the pre-clinical stage,
experimental data indicate that therapeutic angiogenesis using short-term gene expression
may elicit functional improvement in affected individuals.