Lentiviral vectors for immune cells targeting

Abstract

Lentiviral vectors (LVs) are efficient gene delivery vehicles suitable for delivering long-term transgene expression in various cell types. Engineering LVs to have the capacity to transduce specific cell types is of great interest to advance the translation of LVs toward the clinic. Here we provide an overview of innovative approaches to target LVs to cells of the immune system. In this overview we distinguish between two types of LV targeting strategies: (i) targeting of the vectors to specific cells by LV surface modifications, and (ii) targeting at the level of transgene transcription by insertion of tissue-specific promoters to drive transgene expression. It is clear that each strategy is of enormous value but ultimately combining these approaches may help reduce the effects of off-target expression and improve the efficiency and safety of LVs for gene therapy.

Figure 1

Schematic of the retrovirus structure and a representative lentiviral vector backbone plasmid, FUW.