396. Quantitative Analysis of Non-Viral Gene Therapy in a Three-Dimensional Liver Bioreactor

Successful delivery of DNA is a crucial first step in attaining effective gene therapy. While vectors based upon recombinant viruses have shown high transfection efficiencies, they may also pose health risks to patients and can be difficult to target to specific cell types. Non-viral (NV) vectors look to offer a safer alternative and can be engineered to more effectively treat a specific cell type or pathology, but these vectors are plagued with low transfection levels. Many barriers exist in the successful trafficking of these NV complexes to the nucleus. Current evaluations of NV gene delivery treatments in more clinical settings often focus on a single barrier at a time and may not lead to an overall improvement in gene delivery. Concurrently, more quantitative or systematic in vitro studies may not correlate well with in vivo data.