Gene therapy relies on the delivery of therapeutic genes into patients’ cells. The microdevices used to reach the cells and to transfer the gene payload are called gene vectors. Viral packaging machinery is often utilized to generate the particles transporting the cargo genes. Lentiviruses, a subgroup of retroviruses, are highly suitable for remodeling into gene transfer vectors because they of...

Gene therapy, aiming to eradicate causes rather than symptoms of diseases, is believed to be the therapy of the future. A new promising area for the application of gene therapy is the emerging field of regenerative medicine, where gene delivery can be used to enhance or modify cell functions in an organ/tissue or in engineered substitutes. The aim of gene therapy is to achieve the expression of...

As a consequence of several setbacks encountered by viral technology in achieving efficient and safe gene therapy in clinical trials, non-viral gene delivery vectors are considered to date as a valuable alternative and to hold promise for future therapeutic applications. Nevertheless, the transfection efficiency mediated by these non-viral gene delivery vectors has to be improved, especially in...

From the viewpoint of safety, non-viral vector systems represent an attractive gene delivery system for gene therapy. However, the transfection efficiency of non-viral vectors in vivo is generally very low. Previously, it was reported that microbubbles, utilized as imaging agents for diagnostic echocardiography, could promote gene delivery into cells when combined with ultrasound exposure. We t...

Gene delivery systems can be divided to two major types: vector-based (either viral vector or non-viral vector) and physical delivery technologies. Many physical carriers, such as electroporation, gene gun, ultrasound start to be proved to have the potential to enable gene therapy. A relatively new physical delivery technology for gene delivery consists of microneedles (MNs), which has been stu...

Gene therapy for cystic fibrosis (CF) has been the subject of intense research over the last twenty-five years or more, using both viral and liposomal delivery methods, but so far without the emergence of a clinical therapy. New approaches to CF gene therapy involving recent improvements to vector systems, both viral and non-viral, as well as new nucleic acid technologies have led to renewed in...

Nowadays, gene delivery for therapeutic objects is considered one of the most promising strategies to cure both the genetic and acquired diseases of human. The design of efficient gene delivery vectors possessing the high transfection efficiencies and low cytotoxicity is considered the major challenge for delivering a target gene to specific tissues or cells. On this base, the investigations on...

Gelatin is a natural biocompatible, nontoxic, edible and an inexpensive molecule. These properties result in its wide applications and recently it has been used for the delivery of the gene therapeutic entities such as plasmid DNA and paclitaxel drug based delivery for the various types of Cancer cells including Bladder cancer cells and prostate cancer cells. Generally, gelatin nanoparticles ca...

for electronic indexing) The delivery of a therapeutic gene inserted in a vector for somatic gene therapy holds great promise for the future. Encouraging results from the clinical trials of first-generation plasmid-based medicines/ vaccines have further validated the importance of molecular biology and biotechnology research. With newer developments in bioengineering for the mass production and...