Gene Therapy to Treat Cardiovascular Disease

C oronary artery disease, heart failure, and cardiacarrhythmias are major causes of morbidity and mortality in the United States. The overall death rate for all cardiovas-cular diseases was 236.1 per 100 000 persons, accounting for 1 of every 3 deaths in America.1 Cardiac diseases can affect every age group, but prevalence is seen in patients 65 or older. For instance, heart failure incidence approaches 1 in 100 older Americans.2 As of 2009, cardiac arrest accounted for ≥14 % of all deaths in the United States.1 Pharmacologic drugs and device therapies have multiple limitations, and there exists an unmet need for improved clinical outcomes without side effects. Interventional procedures including angioplasty and ablation have improved the prognosis for patients with ischemia and arrhythmias, respectively. How-ever, large subgroups of patients are still left with significant morbidity despite those therapies. This limitation in currentl