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As far as Qing Wang, Ph.D., is concerned, sometimes you can
have it both ways. Groundbreaking genetic research by
Dr. Wang, director of the Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Cardiovascular
Genetics, and his team may lead to the development of medication therapies that
would spur the growth of new blood vessels, a tactic that could help treat
patients with heart disease or those who have experienced stroke (brain attack).
But the same research could also be used to develop methods for blocking the
growth of new blood vessels that feed cancerous tumors, leaving them to starve
to death.
The growth of new blood vessels, called angiogenesis, is an
important natural process, both in health and disease. But in many serious
disease states, the body loses control over angiogenesis. Insufficient
angiogenesis occurs in diseases such as coronary artery disease, stroke and
delayed wound healing. In these conditions, inadequate blood vessel development
results in poor circulation and the risk of tissue death.
Excessive angiogenesis occurs in cancer, the "wet"
form of age-related macular degeneration (abnormal blood-vessel growth inside
the eye), rheumatoid arthritis and more than 70 other conditions. In these
conditions, new blood vessels feed diseased tissue, destroy normal tissue and,
with cancer, nourish tumor cells with oxygen and nutrients.
In 1999, Dr. Wang discovered the gene VG5Q, which is believed
to trigger Klippel-Trenaunay Syndrome (KTS), a rare congenital vascular disease.
After identifying VG5Q, Dr. Wang and his research colleagues spent the next four
years studying, observing and learning how the gene functions.
Dr. Wang’s team found that purified VG5Q protein can promote
new blood vessel formation, and a certain mutation of the VG5Q gene in KTS
patients can further increase blood vessel formation. This important discovery
could help future generations of heart disease patients. If a cardiologist
determines that a person’s heart blood vessels are partially blocked, a
medication made from the VG5Q gene or protein could grow new blood vessels and
prevent a potential heart attack. The ability to grow new blood vessels also
might prevent patients from suffering strokes or delayed wound healing.
In additional research, by using a small molecule called siRNA,
Dr.Wang and his researchers were able to knock down the level of VG5Q protein in
cells, and that successfully blocked the formation of new blood vessels.
"We’re very excited about this because for a tumor to
grow, or for a tumor to move to other parts of the body, it needs new blood
vessels that provide the tumor with oxygen," says Dr. Wang. "The idea
is if we can block the blood vessel formation in tumors by destroying VG5Q blood
vessel cells, the tumors will die."
Dr. Wang’s research on the VG5Q gene was published in the
February 12, 2004 edition of Nature.
He believes that the final goal of developing medications to grow or block blood
vessels may achieved within five to ten years.
Source: Cleveland Clinic Magazine, Summer 2004
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