AAV meets exosomes: at the cutting edge of cardiovascular gene therapy
Cell Gene Therapy Insights 2018; 4(10), 977-981.
10.18609/cgti.2018.097
Roger Hajjar is an internationally renowned scientific leader in the field of cardiac gene therapy for heart failure. His laboratory focuses on molecular mechanisms of heart failure and has validated the cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase pump, SERCA2a, as a target in heart failure, developed methodologies for cardiac directed gene transfer that are currently used by investigators throughout the world, and examined the functional consequences of SERCA2a gene transfer in failing hearts. His basic science laboratory remains one of the preeminent laboratories for the investigation of calcium cycling in failing hearts and targeted gene transfer in various animal models. The significance of Dr. Hajjar’s research has been recognized with the initiation and recent successful completion of phase 1 and phase 2 First-in-Man clinical trials of SERCA2a gene transfer in patients with advanced heart failure under his guidance and the start of an international phase 2b/3 trial (August 2012). This product would be the first gene therapy therapeutics for heart failure and would potentially benefit millions of patients.