The present invention contemplates compositions and methods for the
treatment of vascular grafts both ex vivo and in vivo. Ex vivo treatment
comprises completely removing a vessel (i.e., vein or artery) from the
body and treating with the compositions of the present invention. In vivo
treatment comprises treating the vessel in vivo without removing the
vessel completely from the body (albeit one or both ends of the vessel
may be closed off in order to focus the treatment in the desired area
and/or avoid systemic treatment). In one embodiment, at least a portion
of the smooth muscle cells of a vessel (e.g., vein or artery) are
transfected ex vivo or in vivo with a vector capable of expressing at
least one phosphatase. In a preferred embodiment, smooth muscle cells are
transfected with adenovirus vector comprising the gene encoding PTEN.