POLYBRENE INCREASES THE EFFICIENCY OF GENE-TRANSFER BY LIPOFECTION

Lipofection involves the introduction of foreign genetic information i nto mammalian cells through the use of lipophilic reagents that enhanc e cellular uptake of polynucleotides. Despite the use of currently opt imized lipofection conditions, including the use of serum-depleted med ia, the efficiency of gene transfer is often law. We show here that, i n a variety of cell lines, polybrene markedly enhances the efficiency of lipofection under standardized conditions and also compensates the serum-mediated inhibition of lipofection. non. Although the degree of the polybrene effect depends on the nature of the cell line, these res ults indicate that individually optimized concentrations of polybrene can be useful for increasing the efficiency of lipofectin-mediated in gene transfer in vitro.