Cutaneous gene therapy: overview and perspectives

Progress in gene therapy is currently limited by the technical challenges o f efficient gene transfer and long term expression of the curative transgen e. Nevertheless, gene field in medical research. Skin is a good target for gene therapy and several trials of corrective gene transfer have been succe ssfully performed in vitro. In this review, we report the recent progress i n phenotypic reversion of cultured cells obtained from patients suffering f rom epidermolysis bullosa, recessive ichthyosis or xeroderma pigmentosum. T he techniques of cutaneous gene therapy can be applied to wound healing tre atment of systemic disorders, cutaneous immunomodulation and skin cancers. Successful development of the different, approaches relies on the improveme nt of safe and sufficient methods for gene transfer and on the establishmen t of appropriate animal models.