Chronic pulmonary hypertension (PH) is associated with right ventricular failure and high mortality regardless of the underlying disease. Currently, therapies can improve clinical outcomes in specific subsets of patients, but have little impact on the progression of pulmonary vascular remodeling. Upon new advances in vector development and delivery techniques, gene therapy is a novel strategy in this field with the potential of overcoming the main limitations of approved drug therapies: modulation of novel anti-remodeling targets and selective pulmonary vasculature targeting with minimal systemic effects. In the recent years, several reports have shown that gene transfer to the pulmonary vascular system is feasible in rodent models of PH. Our group has focused on the translation of airway delivery of viral vectors in small and large animals. Here, we describe a procedure to achieve vector transduction at the distal vasculature in animal models of PH and the methods to evaluate the outcomes of this intervention as a promising new approach in pulmonary vascular diseases.
Keywords: Adeno-associated virus; Airway delivery; Gene therapy; Large animal model; Pulmonary hypertension; Pulmonary vascular disease; Right ventricular failure; Vascular remodeling.