Non-viral gene therapy for spinal cord regeneration.
Spinal cord injury (SCI) normally results in life-long disabilities and a broad range of secondary complications. Advances in therapeutic delivery during the past few decades offer hope for such victims. However, the limited functional improvement shown in in vivo studies hinders effective therapeutic application in clinical practice. Recent studies showed that gene vectors can transfect cells present in the lesion of an injured spinal cord (endogenous cells) and thereby produce therapeutic molecules with long-lasting biological effects that promote neural tissue regeneration. In this article we review recent advances in non-viral gene delivery into neural cells and their use for gene therapy in SCI.
Department of Biological Sciences, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS, USA. li.yao@wichita.edu
Li
L
Yao
Sheng
S
Yao
William
W
Daly
William
W
Hendry
Anthony
A
Windebank
Abhay
A
Pandit
D000818:Animals; D015316:Genetic Therapy; D006801:Humans; D009457:Neuroglia / Q000378:metabolism; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000628:therapy*; D058630:Spinal Cord Regeneration; D014162:Transfection / Q000379:methods*