Table 1.

Various gene delivery vectors for cardiac repair

Delivery method	Vehicle diameter	Gene packaging capacity	Expression kinetics	Immunogenicity	Major drawback
ModRNA	Variable	Unlimited	Short term expression up to 2–7 days	Minimal	Transient expression
Plasmid	Variable	Unlimited	Expression up to 2 months	Minimal	Low transfection efficiency
Lentivirus	90 nm	~ 8 kb	Long-term cardiac expression	Moderate	Risk of insertional mutagenesis
AAV	25 nm	~ 5 kb	Long-term cardiac expression up to 11 months	Mild	Risk of neutralizing antibodies and T cell responses
Adenovirus	100 nm	~ 36 kb	Expression up to 2 weeks	Strong	High antibody and inflammatory response