Cell-based gene transfer is effected by administering transfected fibroblast cells, from dermal or other origins, containing an expressible transgene coding for an angiogenic factor or other therapeutic factor, into the pulmonary circulation of a patient, where the cells express and secrete expression products of the transgene to act locally at the site of expression, and in some cases to be conveyed by the patients circulation to other body organs. The process is especially useful in treatment of pulmonary hypertension by means of expressed angiogenic factors.
