Electroporation Gene Therapy: New Developments In Vivo and In Vitro

Electroporation-based gene therapy has become a “hot field” for non-viral gene delivery. This review summarizes the progress made in intramuscular and intratumoral electrogenetransfer, which include new applications and modifications. The progress in dendritic cell (DC) and stem cell transfection by use of electroporation has also been discussed. Rapid progress during the past two years clearly demonstrates the great potential of this technology, but there are challenges faced by both in vitro and in vivo applications, which include how to enhance the transfection efficiency for intratumoral delivery, how to extend the duration of gene expression for intramuscular injection, and how to increase the survival rate for in vitro cell transfection. Resolving these issues will shed new light on this field.