Lentiviral vectors are more efficient at transducing quiescent hematopoietic stem cells than murine retroviral vectors. This characteristic is due to multiple karyophilic components of the lentiviral vector pre-integration complex. Lentiviral vectors are also able to carry more complex payloads than murine retroviral vectors, making it possible to deliver expression cassettes that direct either...

Currently, lentiviral vectors for research and gene therapy are produced from 293-T cells that are transiently transfected with plasmids encoding the vector and helper functions. However, transiently transfected vectors as well as the presence of SV40 virus large T-antigen (T-Ag) cause serious technical and safety considerations. We aimed to exploit single copy integration sites in the HEK293 g...

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 ...

Retroviral vectors based on foamy viruses (FV) are efficient gene delivery vehicles for therapeutic and research applications. While previous studies have shown that FV vectors transduce quiescent cell cultures more efficiently than oncoviral vectors, their specific cell cycle requirements have not been determined. Here we compare the transduction frequencies of FV vectors with those of onco- a...

BACKGROUND Effective gene transfer to the pancreas or to pancreatic cells has remained elusive although it is essential for studies of genetic lineage tracing and modulation of gene expression. Different transduction methods and viral vectors were tested in vitro and in vivo, in rat and mouse pancreas. RESULTS For in vitro transfection/transduction of rat exocrine cells lipofection reagents, ...

RNA silencing is an established method for investigating gene function and has attracted particular interest because of the potential for generating RNA-based therapeutics. Using lentiviral vectors as an efficient delivery system that offers stable, long-term expression in postmitotic cells further enhances the applicability of an RNA-based gene therapy for the CNS. In this review we provide an...

BACKGROUND Lentiviral vectors hold great promise as gene transfer vectors in gene therapeutic settings. However, problems related to the risk of insertional mutagenesis, transgene silencing and positional effects have stalled the use of such vectors in the clinic. Chromatin insulators are boundary elements that can prevent enhancer-promoter interactions, if placed between these elements, and pr...

The characteristics of lentiviral vectors (stable integration in non-dividing and dividing cells, long-term expression of the transgene, absence of immune response) make them ideal gene transfer vehicula for future gene therapy. However, the most potent lentiviral vectors are derived from highly pathogenic human viruses, such as HIV. We describe how the field has engineered lentivectors with in...