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Gene Engineers Join the ED Struggle

June 2, 2007

- Science Daily –

The scientists from the University of Pittsburgh managed to cure rats with erectile dysfunction with the help of gene engineering. The results of the research were presentedat the meeting of the American Society of Gene Therapy.

Erectile dysfunction is a common sexual disorder, affecting up to 30 million men in the USA. It is defined as the inability of a man to maintain penis erection hard or long enough for a successful sexual intercourse. For the time being, erectile dysfunction is treated with the help of drugs, known as PDE-5 inhibitors, which make the blood vessels in male penis to widen in response to sexual stimulation and thus promote harder and longer erection.

There are three brand mediations, approved for ED treatment. They are Viagra (sildenafil), Levitra (vardenafil), and Cialis (tadalafil). However, these ED pills are not for everyone, because as any other medications they have certain side effects and contraindications. Consequently, the researchers are still in the search of the improved treatment option for erectile dysfunction. Perhaps, the gene therapy will become the ideal way to manage erectile dysfunction. Anyway, the results of the experiment with laboratory rats are very promising.

As the background for the experiment, the scientists used the fact that erectile dysfunction is very often associated with the damage of certain nerves in the human penis, which are responsible for transmitting signals from brains to the blood vessels, ordering them either to dilate or narrow. So, the gene engineers inserted nerve growth factors into the damaged nerves of the rats to promote the regeneration of those nerves.

Nerve growth factors (NGF) are small molecules, which occur naturally in the body and have the ability to stimulate the growth of certain nerves. In order to deliver the nerve growth factors to the target nerves, scientists use the so-called gene therapy vectors. Vectors are actually the carriers, which deliver “normal” gene to the target body organ cells and replace the damaged gene with the normal one.

It is interesting to note that for delivering nerve growth factors aimed at treating erectile dysfunction, the researchers used herpes simplex virus. Normally, this virus causes cold sores in people. But when used for gene therapy the virus is modified, so that instead of causing a health disorder it delivers the genetically prepared remedy right to the cells, which need to be repaired.

After 4 weeks after gene therapy, the scientists ascertained the significant improvement of the erectile function in those rats that received the nerve growth factors. The animals showed significant recovery of intracavernous pressure and systemic arterial pressure in comparison with those rats that were left untreated or were treated with the control virus (not genetically modified.

Of course, this finding of genetic engineers still requires much time to transform the received results into a practical solution of erection problems for many men around the world; but this research certainly opens up a potential way of treating health disorders including erectile dysfunction not only with the help of medications, but with gene therapy as well.

Nick

External resources
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070603215439.htm
http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/medicine/genetherapy.shtml