VIRAL AND NON-VIRAL VECTORS AS VEHICLES FOR DELIVERING TRANSGENES FOR TREATING BONE PATHOLOGIES

摘要

The present invention relates to a method for treating bone pathologies comprising delivering a viral or non-viral delivery vehicle comprising genetic information (e.g., a transgene) encoding a therapeutic osteoinductive factor to target cells in vivo enabling the cells to produce the osteoinductive factor at the site of the bone pathology. The delivery is achieved by a simplified method which does not require cumbersome ex vivo techniques or additional matrix or scaffolding agents. Such viral and non-viral delivery vehicles of the present invention are derived from the following nonlimiting examples: adenoviruses, adeno-associated viruses, retroviruses, herpes simplex viruses, liposomes, and plasmids. The osteoinductive factors include, but are not limited to, growth factors, cytokines, growth factor inhibitors and cytokine inhibitors.