Importantly, local delivery of angiogenic thymosin beta 4 [41] or VEGF [42] following myocardial infarction not only induced angiogenesis and improved left ventricular ejection fraction of the ischemic heart, but also activated the quiescent adult epicardial progenitor cells to further differentiate into de novo cardiomyocytes in the injured myocardium. The gene discussed is VEGFA; the disease is myocardial infarction.