Effect of vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGF-C) gene transfer in rat model of secondary lymphedema.

[lymphedemapeople]

Effect of vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGF-C) gene transfer
in rat model of secondary lymphedema.

Vascul Pharmacol. 2008 May 22.

Liu Y, Fang Y, Dong P, Gao J, Liu R, Tian H, Ding Z, Bi Y, Liu Z.
Department of Anatomy, Shandong University School of Medicine, Jinan,
Shandong, 250012, PR China.

Secondary lymphedema has been clinically well described, but a cure is
still lacking. Although there have been previous investigations using
plasmid DNA for gene therapy, few have focused on the use for the
treatment of lymphedema. Therefore, we investigated the effects of
VEGF-C gene transfer for the treatment of lymphedema using our plasmid
pcDNA3.1-VEGF-C. We produced a surgical model of secondary lymphedema
in the rat hindlimb and treated with local intradermal VEGF-C
transfection to investigate the efficacy of gene transfer. Magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI) (P<0.05), B ultrasound (P<0.05), and water
displacement volumetry (P<0.05) demonstrated a reduction of lymphedema
in therapy group as compared to controls. Histological and
immunofluorescent studies demonstrated numerous newly formed lymphatic
vessels in therapy group. Our results indicate that VEGF-C gene
therapy has produced new lymphatic vessels which may have improved
functional lymphatic drainage to reduce lymphedema volume in our
model.

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Pat O'Connor
Lymphedema People
http://www.lymphedemapeople.com