Gene therapy and viral vectors. Preface: Current status of gene therapy and viral vectors.

Barriers and recent advances in non-viral vectors targeting the lungs for cystic fibrosis gene therapy

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is an autosomal recessive disorder caused by mutations in CFTR genes that affect chloride ion channel. The CF is a good nominee for gene therapy as the asymptomatic carriers are phenotypically normal, and the desired cells are accessible for vector delivery. Gene therapy shows promising effects involving the correction of gene or replacement of the mutant gene with the func...

18 Viral Vectors for Gene Therapy

Current gene therapy using viral vectors for chronic pain

The complexity of chronic pain and the challenges of pharmacotherapy highlight the importance of development of new approaches to pain management. Gene therapy approaches may be complementary to pharmacotherapy for several advantages. Gene therapy strategies may target specific chronic pain mechanisms in a tissue-specific manner. The present collection of articles features distinct gene therapy...

Viral vectors in pancreatic cancer gene therapy

Min Li *, Joel A. Rodriguez, William E. Fisher, Xiaoliu Zhang, Changyi Chen and Qizhi Yao * Molecular Surgeon Research Center, Elkins Pancreas Center, Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery, Department of Molecular Virology and Microbiology, Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030 ______________________________________________________________________...

Adeno-associated viral vectors for gene transfer and gene therapy.

Adeno-associated virus (AAV) is a defective, non-pathogenic human parvovirus that depends for growth on coinfection with a helper adenovirus or herpes virus. Recombinant adeno-associated viruses (rAAVs) have attracted considerable interest as vectors for gene therapy. In contrast to other gene delivery systems, rAAVs lack all viral genes and show long-term gene expression in vivo without immune...