Advantages of Retroviral Vector

Advantages of retroviral vectors are:

• Stable integration into host genome

• High-level expression

• Capability to infect a broad variety of target cell types

• Ability to carry foreign genes up to 8 kb

However, there is one slight disadvantage of using retroviruses as vectors. There is the potential for insertional mutagenesis by random viral integration into the host DNA. This could be tumor suppressor genes, thus leading to cancer.