. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2010 Apr 28.

Published in final edited form as: Adv Drug Deliv Rev. 2009 Feb 20;61(4):351–363. doi: 10.1016/j.addr.2009.01.005

Table 1.

Characteristics of commonly used vectors in gene transfer

Vector	Genome	Foreign gene- carrying capacity	Transfection or transduction	Genomic integration	Tropism (Examples)
Retrovirus	ssRNA	~8.0 kb	Stable	Yes	Wide range of cells with species specificity
Adenovirus	dsDNA	~7.5 kb	Transient	No	Liver, epithelial cells
Adeno- associated virus (AAV)	ssDNA	~4.7 kb	Stable	No	Liver, brain, heart, muscle, bone marrow
SV40	dsDNA	~5.0kb	Stable	No	Liver, lung, spleen, lymphocytes
Lentivirus	ssRNA	~5.0kb	Stable	Yes	Proliferating and non- proliferating cells
Herpes simplex virus (HSV) [160]	dsDNA	~15.0kb	Stable	No	Neural tropism and spread in nerve system
Plasmid DNA	dsDNA	Depending on plasmid constructs	Transient	No	Most cell types
Liposome or polymer- mediated gene delivery	dsDNA	Depending on plasmid constructs	Transient	No	Formulation-dependent, and in most cell types

Modified from Yen RD, et al. [22]. dsDNA = double stranded DNA; ssDNA = single stranded DNA.