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Lentiviral Vectors

In gene therapy, viral vectors are used to modify genetic material in living cells for therapeutic purposes, usually to force the production of a necessary protein. Before 1996, scientists relied primarily on modified retroviruses. These virus vectors must enter the cell when it is dividing, making it difficult to infect. However, the subfamily lentivirus (containing several retroviruses such as HIV) can transfer genetic material into non-dividing, dormant cells as well as growth arrested and dividing cells.

Lentiviral vectors can move through the intact nuclear membrane of target cells, providing highly effective gene therapy. They work on neurons, stem cells, retinal photoreceptors, and other cell types for which standard retrovirus vectors do not work. HIV in particular makes an effective lentiviral vector because it has evolved to infect human cells.

Lentiviral vectors like HIV use a particular protein to dock on the cell membrane, releasing the viral contents into the cytoplasm. The matrix protein in the lentiviral vector is then recognized by cell transport apparatus and taken to the nuclear membrane, where it docks and allows the lentiviral vector into the nucleus where it can combine with the DNA already there or simply remain resident, producing the required proteins.

Web Resources On Lentiviral Vectors

What are lentiviral vectors?
Lentiviral Vectors: Safety Issues

Book Resources On Lentiviral Vectors

Factors affecting the production of pantropic retroviral and lentiviral vectors by Yong Chen
Lentiviral Vector Systems for Gene Transfer by Gary L. Buchschacher

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