The microporous affinity membrane based on cellulose matrices offers minimal mass-transfer effects in membrane chromatography with low nonspecific adsorption. In this research, we tested a novel application of the microporous, heparinized cellulose membranes for their affinity toward recombinant adeno-associated virus serotype 2 (rAAV2, which uses heparan sulfate proteoglycans as the primary cellular receptor) to develop a controlled, substrate-mediated viral vector delivery. We conjugated rAAV2 to an epoxy-crosslinked heparin cellulose membrane, which led to vector transduction upon cellular adhesion. When adhered, human fibroblasts exhibited proliferation kinetics similar to those on the standard polystyrene tissue-culture surface. Using fluorescent proteins as the reporter, we showed that the heparin-bound rAAV2 particles remained active and that the rAAV2-heparin binding was reversible and capable of mediating transgene delivery in cell culture. In addition, we applied the affinity membrane to adsorb unpurified rAAV2 from the crude lysate of packaging cells via the ligand-receptor binding, avoiding the use of conventional ultracentrifugation or chromatography in preparation of infectious rAAV2 for transduction. Our work explores a new application of affinity cellulose membranes in substrate-mediated viral vector delivery, which can be a useful tool in developing protocols for localized gene transfer. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.