To make blood-transporting vehicles that will treat cardiovascular diseases, researchers must know what genes control their growth and function, and the questions are many. Of the four known family members, scientists know that Angiopoietin 1 helps blood vessels become more stable or mature so they can handle all the normal blood-vessel functions. For new growth, however, Angiopoietin 2 is necessary. Part of Sato's puzzle is how to make both of the molecules work together to form functional vessels. We have produced transgenic mice using a vector that allows these molecules to be expressed only in the cardiac muscle.
Vectors are the vehicles used to deliver genes into cells.
Sato's group uses a transgenic approach to express genes in living mice to test the activities of angiopoietins and other factors for inducing new blood-vessel formation in the heart. Discovery of effective vectors has been a major roadblock in the attempt to turn genes on and off, to deliver the gene into target areas of the cell and to keep them active long enough to have the desired impact on a disease. The work that Dr. Robert Meidell, associate professor of internal medicine and director of the Coronary Care Unit at Parkland Memorial Hospital, has done using adenoviruses as vectors has shown promise, but some basic questions are still unanswered. Adenoviruses cause the mild, upper respiratory infection of a cold. Next the adenovirus, with its payload of genetic material, is delivered to the appropriate cell.