Cell-Based Gene Therapy System for Delivering BMPs.

The use of an adenoviral vector to transduce cells allows for certain secreted proteins or growth factors to be generated in vivo in eukaryotic cells with accurate posttranslational processing. The use of transduced cells eliminates viral toxicity, allows for targeted expression of the secreted factor at a specific site, and ensures that the therapy will be turned off when the cells are cleared by the organism. Here we describe the delivery system which utilizes cells transduced with a non-replicating adenovirus containing bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2) in the E1 region of the cassette. With this method of delivery, small amounts of the protein can incite de novo bone formation.