Pois(s)on - It's a question of dose ...

In summary, integrating gene transfer vectors have been associated with potentially dangerous genetic lesions. To decrease the resulting potential risk, the number of vector insertions should be limited. Statistical methods as suggested here may be very useful as a general guide to predict insertion frequency distribution, but further experiments addressing this question for different vectors are strongly encouraged. Eventually, the oncogenic risk will have to be determined for each vector-transgene-host cell combination of interest. © 2004 Nature Publishing Group All rights reserved.