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January 11, 2001

$14.3 million grant funds gene therapy use in cardiovascular disease treatment

Pitt has received a $14.3 million, five-year grant to treat cardiovascular diseases using gene therapy.

The grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) establishes the University's Cardiovascular Gene Therapy Center to oversee clinical and laboratory studies aimed at healing poorly functioning hearts and preventing long-term damage to blood vessels, among other projects.

In addition, Pitt's Human Gene Therapy Applications Laboratory will become the only national facility producing viral vectors (agents that carry genes into cells) for use in future NHLBI-funded clinical trials. The grant also will fund training of clinical scientists in the latest gene therapy technologies and procedures.

"There are two stumbling blocks in the clinical phase of gene therapy research. One is paying for the clinical trial itself, and the other is paying for the production of clinical-grade vector material that goes into the patient. This grant covers both," said Joseph Glorioso, principal investigator for the grant and chairperson of molecular genetics and biochemistry.

"Unlike many gene therapy grants, which are largely pre-clinical — in other words, developing technology and showing efficacy in animal models — this one is actually targeted toward patients," Glorioso said.

Just in the last year, Pitt has attracted $30 million in new grant support for gene therapy research, he noted.

Researchers say gene therapy has great potential to treat and prevent a variety of cardiovascular diseases of the heart, lungs, blood vessels and blood.

Pitt's NHLBI grant is the largest of four awarded nationally. Other recipients included Stanford, Cornell and the University of Washington at Seattle.

Despite advances in prevention, diagnosis and treatment, cardiovascular disease remains the No. 1 cause of death in the United States. For example, heart failure affects more than five million people, accounting for one million hospitalizations, 400,000 deaths and $40 billion in health care expenses each year.

— Bruce Steele

Filed under: Feature,Volume 33 Issue 9

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