More than 2,000 inherited disorders are known today, with up 15% of newborn infants presenting some genetic disorder that may cause disease or impairment at some stage of life. Examples of genetic disorders with different degrees of severity are diabetes (juvenile and mellitus), cystic fibrosis, familial hypercholesterolemia, hemophilia, phenylketonuria, Down syndrome, familial cancers, Parkinson, myocardiopathies, arthritis, among others. Accordingly, medical research is concentrating efforts in the development of new strategies for gene therapy, aiming at correcting, restoring, or modifying the mutated gene involved. Gene targeting, utilizing vectors to transport DNA to the affected cells, became a central focus in this field of research.

Another therapeutic gene targeting approach is trying to devise ways of turning specific expressed genes in tumor cells against themselves. Termed suicide gene therapy, this strategy makes cancer cells more vulnerable to chemotherapy, radiation, or to new drugs. One approach, for...