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Gene Causes Growth of New Arteries
Researchers say they have found a gene that is essential for the growth of new arteries when other arteries are blocked. The work may lead to new clinical treatments for arterial blockage in patients.
The team, led by Rajabrata Sarkar, MD, PhD, San Francisco VA Medical Center, demonstrated in mice that the MMP2 gene cause new arteries to grow when the femoral (leg) artery is blocked. They also identified and described the specific DNA sequences of the MMP2 gene during this process. In the first part of the study, published recently in PNAS, Sarkar and his group mimicked human vascular disease in the femoral arteries of normal mice and of mice that lacked the MMP2 gene, which encodes an enzyme that promotes the growth of new arteries.
The normal mice grew new arteries in about three weeks while the blood flow in their legs was close to normal. The mice without the MMP2 gene did not grow new arteries. About 40% lost a portion of a leg due to gangrene caused by inadequate blood flow, demonstrating the important role the MMP2 gene plays in an animal’s ability to grow new arteries in response to a blockage.
Though the approach is very time-consuming, researchers were able to identify and described previously unknown areas of the MMP2 gene, plus other molecules that activate those areas essential to expression of the gene in response to decreased blood flow.
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