A Brief Review of Viral Delivery Systems for Bone Tissue Engineering

To date, bone tissue engineering remains one of the most challenging fields for both researchers and clinicians. The traditional standard of using autograft or allograft bone introduces a number of complications, including pain, infection, and donor-site morbidity among others, prompting researchers to find alternative solutions. However, with the development of techniques in the field of gene therapy, there is now greatly improved clinical potential for bone tissue regeneration in terms of providing treatment that is both safe and efficacious. While viral delivery is a well-studied platform for gene transfer, non-integrating also represents an attractive alternative method as it addresses concerns of safety. Products for viral based delivery vary widely, from micro (mi)RNAs to bone orphogenetic proteins (BMPs). Finally and interestingly, the target cell for bone tissue engineering is not necessarily the osteoblast or osteocyte. Other tissue-specific cell targets including intramarrow adipocytes, bone associated endothelial cells, or even adjacent skeletal muscle cells can have a secondary effect on osteogenesis and have been increasingly investigated. In this review, we will focus on the fundamental roles of vectors and gene delivery products, as well as discuss frequently targeted, alternative tissue types in the context of bone tissue engineering.