Texas Heart Institute Finds Clues to Heart Cell Regeneration with Angiogenix; Endovasc...

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

MONTGOMERY, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 4, 2003

Endovasc Inc. (OTCBB:EVSC), an early-stage drug development company that pioneers new cardiovascular and metabolic drug therapies, announced today that research conducted at the Texas Heart

Institute, Heart Failure Research Lab, directed under Yong-Jian Geng, M.D., Ph. D., indicated that nicotine has significant effects on both the proliferation and differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells. "We are narrowing the mechanistic action of nicotine that accelerates stem cell division while closing in on the signal transduction pathway underlying the process of myocardiogenesis," said Dr. Geng.

These new findings confirm and extend earlier studies conducted at Stanford University that support the growing theory that nicotine can boost stem cell regenerative powers in patients with chronic or congestive heart failure. Further studies are planned to identify these proteins and determine their role in cellular development. These findings could potentially lead to a new method for treating patients with heart failure.

In this study, Dr. Geng used embryonic cardiac stem cells isolated from rodents, as well as embryonic stem cell lines, cultured in special media to support their growth and development. In cultures treated with very low levels of nicotine, the rate of stem cell division increased significantly, compared to untreated cells. This observation alone could account for the increase in the number of stem cells found in the ischemic tissue of animals treated with nicotine, compared to control animals. However, in additional studies, using a variety of molecular probes, Dr. Geng and his collaborators could detect changes or alterations in gene expression at different stages of development in response to nicotine treatment. They observed increased expression of cardiovascular cell proteins in the nicotine-treated cells, suggesting the potential for nicotine regulation of cardiovascular cell development.

In the spring of 2003, a research agreement between Endovasc Inc. and Dr. Geng formed the basis for a joint research project to determine if Endovasc's leading drug candidate, Angiogenix(TM), could promote cardiac stem cell proliferation and development into functional cardiomyocytes. In previous animal studies, nicotine had been shown to enhance the recruitment of stem cells to damaged or ischemic tissues in animals treated with nicotine, but the mechanism of action remains unclear.