ABSTRACT
In gene therapy, patients carrying identified defective genes are supplemented with copies of the corresponding normal genes [1]. Many gene delivery reagents (also known as transfection vectors) including retrovirus [2], adenovirus [3], positively charged polymers and peptides [4-6], and cationic amphiphilic compounds [7,8] are currently being used as carriers of genes in combating hereditary diseases by gene therapy. Reproducibility, low cellular and immunological toxicities, and the ease of preparation and administration associated with cationic transfection lipids are increasingly making them the transfection vector of choice in gene therapy.
