Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor: a noninvasive regeneration therapy for treating atherosclerotic peripheral artery disease.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

The purpose of this study was to determine whether treatment with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), which mobilizes endothelial progenitor cells from bone marrow, can safely improve the clinical outcomes of patients with atherosclerotic peripheral artery disease (PAD).

METHODS AND RESULTS:

Thirty-nine patients with intractable PAD were randomly assigned to 3 groups: a negative control group (n=12) treated with conventional drug therapy; a positive control group (n=13) treated with conventional drug therapy plus bone marrow transplantation (BMT); and a G-CSF group (n=14) treated with conventional therapy plus subcutaneous injection of 2-5 microg/kg of recombinant human G-CSF once daily for 10 days. One month after treatment, subjective symptoms improved significantly in the G-CSF and BMT groups. Ankle-brachial pressure index and transcutaneous oxygen pressure increased significantly in the BMT and G-CSF groups, but no such improvements were seen in the group receiving conventional therapy alone.

CONCLUSIONS:

G-CSF improves the clinical signs and symptoms of patients with intractable PAD to the same degree as BMT does. This noninvasive treatment may thus represent a useful new approach to managing the disease.

• Authors: Masazumi Arai, Yu Misao, Hiroshi Nagai, Masanori Kawasaki, Kenshi Nagashima, Koji Suzuki, Kunihiko Tsuchiya, Setsuko Otsuka, Yoshihiro Uno, Genzou Takemura, Kazuhiko Nishigaki, Shinya Minatoguchi, Hisayoshi Fujiwara
• Journal: Circulation journal : official journal of the Japanese Circulation Society (Circ J) Vol. 70 Issue 9 Pg. 1093-8 (Sep 2006) ISSN: 1346-9843 [Print] Japan
• PMID: 16936417 (Publication Type: Comparative Study, Journal Article, Randomized Controlled Trial, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Recombinant Proteins
• Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor

Topics

• Aged
• Atherosclerosis (therapy)
• Bone Marrow Transplantation
• Female
• Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor (administration & dosage)
• Hematopoietic Stem Cell Mobilization (methods)
• Humans
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Recombinant Proteins
• Regeneration (drug effects)
• Remission Induction
• Transplantation, Autologous