Gene transfer in the kidney

Gene transfer approaches offer the promise of revolutionizing medicine. in this review, we focus on the current and future prospects of somatic gene t ransfer into the kidney. The advantages and disadvantages of current vector systems are described, and the ex vivo and in vitro approaches applicable to the kidney are reviewed. We discuss uses of gene transfer approaches to dissect the pathogenesis of kidney disease and the future directions and ap plications of gene transfer to combat kidney destruction.