Researchers at University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have demonstrated that rats with erectile dysfunction (ED) had regained normal function four weeks after being injected with a gene therapy vector containing either of two nerve growth factors.

The study presented at the 10th annual meeting of the American Society of Gene Therapy, was led by Joseph C Glorioso, III, chair of the department of biochemistry and molecular genetics, and Joel Nelson, chair of the department of urology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

ED is the repeated inability to achieve or maintain an erection necessary for sexual intercourse, and it is frequently associated with damage to the cavernous nerve that results from surgery for prostate cancer. Even if a patient receives a nerve-sparing procedure during surgery, recovery from ED after radical prostatectomy may take a long time.

During the study, the researchers inserted either the gene for the glial cell line derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) or the GDNF family ligand into a genetically engineered herpes simplex virus.