Tissue-engineered microvascular networks for gene therapy

The authors have explored the use of tissue-engineered microvascular networks for gene therapy. Rat microvascular endothelial cells (RMEC), engineered to secrete human growth hormone (hGH), continued to secrete hGH after forming microvascular networks in Matrigel. When hGH-releasing microvascular networks were implanted subcutaneously into nude mice the hGH concentration in serum, while decreasing initially, leveled off at /spl sim/0.2 ng/ml and remained stable for over ten months.