Recent advances in molecular biology combined with the culmination of the Human Ge‐ nome Project [1] have provided a genetic understanding of cellular processes and disease pathogenesis; numerous genes involved in disease and cellular processes have been identi‐ fied as targets for therapeutic approaches. In addition, the development of high-throughput screening techniques (e.g., cDNA microarra...

Viruses can be engineered to efficiently deliver exogenous genes, but their natural gene delivery properties often fail to meet human therapeutic needs. Therefore, engineering viral vectors with new properties, including enhanced targeting abilities and resistance to immune responses, is a growing area of research. This review discusses protein engineering approaches to generate viral vectors w...

Chapter 1 describes the barriers that have hindered the effective use of gene delivery and a literature review of methods designed to overcome those barriers. Areas of gene delivery that will be discussed include viral, physical, and non-viral methods of gene delivery. A special focus will be on methods to target gene delivery vehicles and more specifically the somatostatin receptor 2 (SSTR2) t...

objective(s) nonviral vector can be an attractive alternative to gene delivery in experimental study. in spite of some advantages in comparison with the viral vectors, there are still some limitations for efficiency of gene delivery in nonviral vectors. to determine the effective expression, the recombinant escherichia coli lacz genes were cloned into the different variants of pcdna3.1 and then...

lentiviral vectors are promising gene delivery tools capable of transducing a variety of dividing and non-dividing cells, including pluripotent stem cells which are refractory for transduction by murine retroviruses. although there is a growing debate on the safety of lentiviral vectors for gene transfer, in particular for those derived from human immunodeficiency viruses, type one (hiv-1) and ...

Gene therapy, the correction of dysfunctional or deleted genes by supplying the lacking component, has long been awaited as a means to permanently treat or reverse many genetic disorders. To achieve this, therapeutic DNA must be delivered to the nucleus of cells using a safe and efficient delivery vector. Although viral-based vectors have been utilized extensively due to their innate ability to...

Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) supports the growth and survival of dopaminergic neurons. CNS gene delivery currently relies on invasive intracerebral injection to transit the blood-brain barrier. Non-viral gene delivery via systematic transvascular route is an attractive alternative because it is non-invasive, but a high-yield and targeted gene-expressed method is still lack...

For a variety of reasons, including production limitations, potential unanticipated side effects, and an immunological response upon repeated systemic administration, virus-based vectors are as yet not ideal gene delivery vehicles, justifying further research into alternatives. Unlike viral vectors, non-viral vectors pose minimal health risks, but to meet therapeutic requirements their efficacy...