Browsing by Subject "lentivirus"

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    Absence of Replication-Competent Lentivirus in the Clinic: Analysis of Infused T Cell Products
    (Elsevier, 2017) Cornetta, Kenneth; Duffy, Lisa; Turtle, Cameron J.; Jensen, Michael; Forman, Stephen; Binder-Scholl, Gwendolyn; Fry, Terry; Chew, Anne; Maloney, David G.; June, Carl H.; Medical and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine
    Exposure to replication-competent lentivirus (RCL) is a theoretical safety concern for individuals treated with lentiviral gene therapy. For certain ex vivo gene therapy applications, including cancer immunotherapy trials, RCL detection assays are used to screen the vector product as well as the vector-transduced cells. In this study, we reviewed T cell products screened for RCL using methodology developed in the National Gene Vector Biorepository. All trials utilized third-generation lentiviral vectors produced by transient transfection. Samples from 26 clinical trials totaling 460 transduced cell products from 375 subjects were evaluated. All cell products were negative for RCL. A total of 296 of the clinical trial participants were screened for RCL at least 1 month after infusion of the cell product. No research subject has shown evidence of RCL infection. These findings provide further evidence attesting to the safety of third-generation lentiviral vectors and that testing T cell products for RCL does not provide added value to screening the lentiviral vector product.
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    Certification assays for HIV-1-based vectors: frequent passage of gag sequences without evidence of replication-competent viruses
    (Elsevier, 2003-11-01) Sastry, Lakshmi; Xu, Yi; Johnson, Terry; Desai, Kunal; Rissing, David; Marsh, Jonathan; Cornetta, Kenneth; Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine
    A principal concern regarding the safety of HIV-1-based vectors is replication-competent lentivirus (RCL). We have developed two PCR assays for detecting RCL; the first detects recombination between gag regions in the transfer vector and the packaging construct (sensitivity of detection ∼10–100 copies of target sequence). The second assay uses real-time PCR to detect vesicular stomatitis virus glycoprotein (VSVG) envelope DNA (sensitivity ∼5–50 VSVG sequences). In an attempt to amplify any RCL, test vectors were used to transduce C8166 and 293 cells, which were then screened weekly for 3 weeks. Psi–gag recombinants were routinely detected (20 of 21 analyses) in four transductions using the RRL-CMV-GFP vector. In contrast, VSVG sequences were detected only once in 21 analyses. Interestingly, p24 levels (as measured by ELISA) were occasionally detectable after 3 weeks of culture. To determine if a true RCL was present, 21-day cell-free medium was used to transduce naïve cells. No evidence of psi–gag or VSVG transfer was detected, indicating that the recombination events were insufficient to reconstitute a true RCL. These findings have important implications for the design and safety of HIV-1-based vectors intended for clinical applications.