title: Femtosecond laser treatment enhances DNA transfection efficiency in vivo.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Gene therapy with plasmid DNA is emerging as a promising strategy for the treatment of many diseases. One of the major obstacles to such therapy is the poor transfection efficiency of DNA in vivo.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this report, we employed a very low power, near-infrared femtosecond laser technique to enhance the transfection efficiency of intradermally and intratumorally administered DNA plasmid.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that femtosecond laser treatment can significantly enhance the delivery of DNA into the skin and into established tumors in mice. In addition, we found that both laser power density as well as duration of laser treatment are critical parameters for augmenting DNA transfection efficiency. The femtosecond laser technique employs a relatively unfocused laser beam that maximizes the transfected area, minimizes damage to tissue and simplifies its implementation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This femtosecond new laser technology represents a safe and innovative technology for enhancing DNA gene transfer in vivo.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA. tsen@jhu.edu
authors.forename: Shaw-Wei D
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Tsen
authors.forename: Chao-Yi
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Avedis
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Meneshian
authors.forename: Sara I
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Pai
authors.forename: Chien-Fu
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Hung
authors.forename: T-C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Wu