Patent ID: 6979677

Claim:
A method for inhibiting vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation after mechanical injury of a blood vessel in a mammal, comprising: introducing a thymidine kinase gene to a blood vessel by catheter instillation at the site of said mechanical injury after said mechanical injury, wherein said thymidine kinase gene is operably linked to a promoter in a eukaryotic expression vector and wherein said eukaryotic expression vector is complexed with a nonviral vector; Expressing said thymidine kinase gene to produce thymidine kinase protein in smooth muscle cells of said blood vessel; and Administering to said mammal an effective amount of a DNA replication inhibiting nucleoside analog capable of being phosphorylated by said thymidine kinase protein, whereby said phosphorylated analog is preferentially incorporated into the DNA of proliferating cells, and whereby said proliferating cells are killed.