Cells grown in 96-well flat-bottom plates were transduced with our different vectors and analysed at 36 h post-transduction. The cell culture media was then removed, and 30 μl of MTT solution (7.5 mg ml−1 thiazolyl blue tetrazolium bromide (Sigma-Aldrich) in phosphate buffered saline) was added per well, followed by incubation at 37 °C for 4 h. The MTT solution was then removed and 100 μl of DMSO (dimethylsulfoxide, Sigma-Aldrich) was added to each well. The optical density of the supernatants in the 96-well plates was read at 570 nm.