Lentiviral vectors for the delivery of DNA into mammalian cells.

Vectors derived from oncoretroviruses, represented by the prototype Moloney murine leukemia virus (MMLV), are powerful tools for gene transfer into mammalian cells. Vectors derived from such viruses are able to carry an insert of up to 6.5 kb. Because Retroviridae and derived vectors insert their genome into the host chromosome, the transgene delivered by these viruses are stably expressed in the infected cells. From a safety standpoint, the vectors are designed to eliminate any need to carry viral genes or associated toxicities into the host cell. This also substantially reduces their potential immunogenicity. Finally, the titers achieved with these vectors can be very high, yielding efficient infection in a broad range of cell types.