YOUR HEART'S DESIRE

摘要

It's the biggest killer in the developed world. Even if you are spared, chances are that cardiovascular disease will claim a third of your friends and loved ones. Before they die, many will endure major surgery, years of dependence on drugs and the uncertainty of living with a terminal condition. The incentive to find a cure is huge. What if there's a simple treatment that could do away with open-heart surgery, perhaps even prevent heart attacks altogether? Sounds too good to be true? Well, there is a catch. Patients would be injected with proteins or the DNA that codes for them. But these "growth factors" are the same proteins that cancer cells pump out to trick the body into sprouting new capillaries to feed the tumour. Cancer researchers are understandably keen to turn off this angiogenesis. A few pioneers, though, realised that being able to grow blood vessels at will would be a formidable weapon against cardiovascular disease―even if it means injecting patients with bits of DNA from tumours.