Gene therapy was conceived during the early and mid part of the
20th century. At first, it was considered a revolutionary
biomedical procedure, which could potentially cure any disease for
which the molecular bases were understood. Since then, gene therapy
has gone through many stages and has evolved from a nearly
unrealistic perspective to a real life application. Clinical
efficacy in humans was demonstrated at the beginning of this
century after its successful application in small-scale clinical
trials to cure severe immunodeficiency in children. However, their
successes were overshadowed some time later by the occurrence of
vector-related leukaemia in a number of treated children. It is in
this context that lentiviral vectors have appeared, with improved
efficiency and, possibly, increased biosafety. Very recently, the
first clinical trials with lentivectors have been carried out with
some success.
This Brief firstly defines gene therapy, and places lentivectors
within this fascinating therapeutic strategy. Then follows a
comprehensive description of the development of retroviral and
lentiviral vectors and how to specifically target distinct cell
types and tissues. The authors also discuss the application of
lentivector gene therapy for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune
diseases, ending with the application of lentivectors in human gene
therapy clinical trials.
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