Baculovirus-mediated gene transfer into mesenchymal stem cells

Abstract

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have drawn considerable attention as vehicles for cell-and gene-based therapies. Additionally, baculovirus has emerged as a novel gene therapy vector because of its large cloning capacity for insertion of multiple genes, its minimal cytotoxic effects, and its inability to replicate in mammalian cells. These features have prompted efforts to employ baculovirus vectors carrying mammalian expression cassettes for gene delivery into MSCs. This chapter demonstrates the use of GFP expression to monitor baculovirus-mediated gene transfer into MSCs. © 2009 Humana Press, a part of Springer Science + Business Media, LLC.