Table 3.
Viral and nonviral gene therapy vectors used in tissue engineering
| Vector | Type | Advantages/disadvantages |
|---|---|---|
| Retrovirus | Viral | Advantages: |
| Nonimmunogenic | ||
| Disadvantages: | ||
| Infects only dividing cells | ||
| Insertional mutagenesis | ||
| Adenovirus | Viral | Advantages: |
| Infects dividing and nondividing cells | ||
| Does not integrate into target cell genome | ||
| Disadvantages: | ||
| Potentially immunogenic | ||
| Adeno-associated virus | Viral | Advantages: |
| Infects dividing and nondividing cells | ||
| Low immunogenicity | ||
| Nonpathogenic in human | ||
| Disadvantages: | ||
| Difficult to produce at high titers | ||
| Small transgenes | ||
| Plasmid | Nonviral | Advantages: |
| Nonimmunogenic | ||
| Nonpathogenic | ||
| Disadvantages: | ||
| Low transduction efficiency | ||
| DNA polymer complexes | Nonviral | Advantages: |
| Infects dividing and nondividing cells | ||
| Cell-specific targeting | ||
| Disadvantages: | ||
| Low transduction efficiency |