938. Myocardial Administration of Adenoviral Vector Encoding VEGF Induces Severe Pleural and Pericardial Effusion in Rat

Background: Clinical trials for severe coronary ischemia and critical limb ischemia using vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene have been on going for several years. However, the indication of VEGF therapy for ischemic heart disease is only limited to chronic ischemia, and acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is exception for this therapy at present. High levels of circulating VEGF were reported to arise following AMI in a short period after the ischemic event and surmised that it protects the blood vessels from apoptosis, modulates vasomotor response, and supports vessel formation in the ischemic area, and to contribute to quick recovery from the ischemic state. In this regard, we attempted adenoviral VEGF gene therapy for rat myocardial infarction model. However, we found the increase mortality of animals receiving adenoviral VEGF. Therefore, we re-evaluated the adverse effect of myocardial administration of adenoviral vector encoding VEGF in AMI rat.