Advances in Viral Vectors for Gene and Cell Therapy
A special issue of Viruses (ISSN 1999-4915). This special issue belongs to the section "General Virology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2026
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Exploiting the innate ability of viruses to enter cells and deliver genetic material has enabled the development of innovative and powerful tools to advance biomedical research, treat numerous monogenic disorders, and engineer immune cells to combat cancer. Despite multiple gene and cell therapy drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency in recent years, many diseases still lack effective therapeutic options. Improvements are needed to enhance the current viral delivery platforms by expanding viral vector cargo capacity, regulating gene expression, achieving targeted cell delivery, advancing manufacturing technologies, and refining safety profiles.
The objective of this Special Issue is to collect high-quality original research manuscripts and review articles that highlight recent advances and improvements in the design, development, and application of viral vectors and virus-like particles for cell and gene therapy.
Topics of interest for this Special Issue include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Viral vector design.
- Pseudotyping of viral vectors.
- Vector manufacturing and purification.
- Methodology for characterization and quality control of viral vectors.
- Pre-clinical development of viral vectors.
- Immune response to viral vector.
- Virus-Like Particles for the delivery of therapeutic proteins.
Dr. Francesca Ferrara
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Viruses is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- lentiviral vectors
- adenoviral vectors
- adeno-associated viral vectors
- virus-like particles
- chimeric antigen receptor
- gene and cell therapy
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