In comparison with viral vectors, more efforts have recently been spent on the development of non-viral vectors because of few fatal accidents in clinical trials of viral carriers [1–3]. It has been well recognized that non-viral vectors have their own advantages, such as low immune toxicity, construction flexibility and facile fabrication, in the gene transfection, especially for clinical appl...

Advances in biotechnology have brought gene therapy to the forefront of medical research. The prelude to successful gene therapy i.e. the efficient transfer and expression of a variety of human gene into target cells has already been accomplished in several systems. Safe methods have been devised to do this, using several viral and no-viral vectors. Two main approaches emerged: in vivo modifica...

Retroviral vectors have been considered the most promising vehicles for the transfer of therapeutic genes into cells of the hematopoietic system. In clinical studies, however, cases of leukemoid clonogenic expansion of the transduced cells in vivo caused by semirandom integration of the foreign DNA in the genome have changed the focus to other types of vectors. In addition to their superior saf...

Gene delivery has attracted increasing interest as a highly promising therapeutic method to treat various diseases, including both genetic and acquired disorders. However, its clinical application is still hampered by the lack of safe and effective gene delivery techniques, as well as by the need of non-invasive routes of administration in gene delivery platforms. Among the different approaches...