To investigate the effect of transfection of adenovirus mediated vascular endothelial growth factor B (VEGF B) gene transfer on the proliferation of endothelial cells. We constructed a replication deficient recombinant adenovirus vector coding for human VEGF B, and detected its gene transcription and expression in Ad. VEGF B infected rat arotic endothelial cells (RAECs) with RT PCR and western blat. The effect of Ad.VEGF B on RAECs prolifeation was examined by MTT assay on days 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 after infection. RAECs were successfully infected with high efficiency and expressed a special protein that is immunoreactive to anti VEGF B monoclonal antibody. This protein could be detected in the culture medium. The proliferation assay of RAECs infected with VEGF B expressing adenovirus revealed a significant increase in cell number over control. These results implied that the use of VEGF B expressing recombinant adenovirus may induce angiogenesis, which might be potential in vivo gene therapy for ischemic heart disease.

0.05). The postoperative incidence of AFL was significantly lower than preoperative ( P