Patent ID: 8481504

Claim:
A method for stimulating angiogenesis in a subject who has a muscle injury, comprising the steps of: injecting into muscle tissue of the injured muscle of the subject an isolated nucleic acid expression construct that is substantially free from a viral backbone; and electroporating the muscle tissue of the injured muscle after the nucleic acid expression construct has been delivered into the muscle tissue of the injured muscle of the subject; wherein the muscle tissue comprises cells; and the isolated nucleic acid expression construct comprises: a synthetic myogenic promoter consisting of SEQ ID NO.:3; a nucleic acid sequence encoding an insulin-like growth factor I (“IGF-I”); and a 3′ untranslated region (3′UTR); wherein the synthetic myogenic promoter, the nucleic acid sequence encoding IGF-I, and the 3′UTR are operably linked; whereby cells of the muscle tissue of the injured muscle of the subject take up the isolated nucleic acid expression construct and IGF-I is expressed, and angiogenesis is stimulated in the muscle tissue of the injured muscle of the subject.