ORLANDO. Florida. Nov 10: Scientists reported on Sunday that genetic engineering had been used successfully for the first time in human beings as part of two projects designed to treat blocked arteries, reports Reuter.

One research team said DNA injected into 10 patients caused eight of them to grow new arteries bypassing blockages, while a second team used genetic engineering to keep heart bypass grafts from getting clogged up.

This is the first time that gene therapy has been proven to work." Dr Jeffrey Isner of St Elizabeth Medical Centre and Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, who worked on the study Involving new artery growth, told Reuters.

"In all the previous 200 attempts at genetic engineering, it has never been shown to have

any lasting effect on the body and many people thought genetic engineering was just pie in the sky, he added. "We have answered that."

Isner. who presented his findings to the American Heart Association, said the eight volunteers who showed improvement in all had arteries in their legs blocked by atherosclerosis — the same plaque that causes coronary artery disease.

"Since this gene therapy works in the leg. it should work In the heart," he said.

He predicted the new therapy could become as common as heart bypass operations and angioplasty. The ability to grow new blood vessels, whether In patients’ legs or in their hearts, will become another therapeutic option," he said.