Highlights

 Lentiviral  vectors possess characteristics such as broad host range, low immunogenicity, large gene capacity, and long-term expression . They can effectively infect various cell types , including cultured tumor cells, hepatocytes, cardiomyocytes, neurons, endothelial cells, and stem cells. Lentiviral infection exhibits integration properties, effectively integrating exogenous genes into the host chromosome for persistent expression, thus enabling the construction of stable cell lines for gene function studies. Modifying T cells using lentiviral vectors can be used for CAR-T cell therapy.
 Lentivirals  have high safety profiles  and  have not been found to be pathogenic. Lentiviral vectors can be used to modify T cells and NK cells for the preparation of CAR-T and CAR-NK cell therapy products.  Lentivirals have low immunogenicity does not easily induce an immune response, making them suitable for animal experiments.

Overview

 Lentiviruses  are a type of viral vector modified from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). They are a type of retrovirus with an RNA genome. Their virulence genes have been knocked out and replaced by exogenous target genes. Belonging to the pseudovirus family , they can integrate exogenous genes into their genome for stable expression and can infect both dividing and non-dividing cells. After entering the cell, the lentiviral genome  is reverse transcribed into DNA in the cytoplasm, forming a pre-integration DNA complex. Upon entering the nucleus, the DNA integrates into the cell genome. The integrated DNA is transcribed into mRNA, returns to the cytoplasm, and expresses the target protein or produces small RNA. Lentivirus- mediated gene expression or small RNA interference is persistent and stable, and occurs with cell division (Figure 1).

　　Figure 1. The process of lentivirus packaging and cell infection.