The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia scientists said their delivery technology can be custom designed for controlled local release of therapeutic genes at a disease site.

The researchers used their new synthetic formulation to bind adenoviruses to bare metal stents placed in the carotid arteries of research rats. Adenoviruses served as a gene therapy vector to carry genes for an enzyme that significantly reduced restenosis -- the hazardous narrowing of a blood vessel that often occurs despite the presence of a stent designed to hold it open. The eventual goal is to use the technique to treat human artery disease.

"We developed a synthetic gene delivery system that can be used for any gene therapy vector, not just adenoviruses," said study leader Dr. Robert Levy. "Furthermore, this new formulation allows us to increase the dosage of gene therapy vectors delivered, and we can tune the materials for sustained release over a longer time period."

The study is reported in the online edition of the journal Circulation.