Gene therapy in transplantation

Abstract

The success of gene therapy in clinical transplantation depends largely on the further development of appropriate expression vectors. Currently available vectors all suffer from significant disadvantages. New vectors must overcome problems associated with lack of specific cell targeting in vivo, low transfection frequencies, and lack of long-term stable expression. Despite these problems, the results obtained in animal models show the potential of gene therapy techniques to modulate immune responses, enhance graft function, and correct genetic disorders.