“…Among them, BMP-2 is one of the strongest members (Riley et al 1996). Recently, gene transfer of BMP-2, 4, 7, and 9 was successfully used to achieve in vivo osteoinduction in athymic mice (Lou et al 1999, Krebsbach et al 2000, Musgrave et al 2000, Okubo et al 2001, Abe et al 2002, Zhu et al 2003, repair of radial, femoral, periodontal and cranial bone defects in mice, rats, and rabbits (Lieberman et al 1999, Baltzer et al 2000, Lee et al 2001, Xu et al 2002, Jin et al 2003, Tsuchida et al 2003, Chang et al 2003, spinal fusion in rats, rabbits, and pigs (Riew et al 1998, Dumont et al 2002, Wang et al 2003, and enhancement of tendon-bone integration (Martinek et al 2002). There has been no report, however, of BMP gene transfer inducing the repair of segmental diaphyseal defects in large animals.…”