Novel gene transfer systems: intelligent gene transfer vectors for gene medicines.

Drug delivery systems for gene transfer are called 'vectors'. These systems were originally invented as a delivery system for the transfection in vitro or in vivo. Several vectors are then developed for clinical use of gene medicines and currently some of them are approved as animal drugs. Conventional drug delivery system generally consists of approved (existing) materials to avoid additional pre-clinical or clinical studies. However, current vectors contain novel materials to improve an efficacy of gene medicines. Thus, these vectors have functions more than a mere delivery of active ingredients. For example some vectors have immunological functions such as adjuvants in vaccines. These new types of vectors are called 'intelligent' or 'innovative' vector system', since the concept or strategy for the development is completely different from conventional drug delivery systems. In this article, we described a current status of 'intelligent gene transfer vectors and discussed on the potentials of them.