The first HIV-based lentiviral vector to be used in humans, VRX496, is currently being tested in Phase I clinical trials (initiated in January 2003). With each new therapeutic comes the need to establish quality control (QC) testing designed specifically for that product. The QC testing for VRX496 was developed in accordance with the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 21 for pharmaceutical and bulk chemical GMPs, Points to Consider in the Characterization of Cell Lines Used to Produce Biologicals (1993) from the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) at FDA, and the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) 1046 for Cell and Gene Therapy Products. This report describes the QC testing of lot VRX496V02-009 of our clinical grade vector, which is being used in an ongoing clinical trial evaluating the first lentiviral gene therapy vector in humans. All assays are performed according to established standard operating procedures (SOPs) and in accordance with the principles of cGMP regulations…
Tag: <span>transduction</span>
Recombinant adenovirus are attractive as vectors for gene therapy because: they exhibit wide tissue tropism and high transduction efficiency; adenovirus cultures can reach high specific titers (10^10 VP/mL), and; their use in the treatment of cancer and other serious diseases is valuable. A primary mode of adenovirus purification continues to be CsCl density gradient centrifugation…
In orthopedic procedures, there is a need to form new bone to repair and fill defects arising from either trauma or degenerative disease. The current standard treatment utilizes an autograft, usually from the iliac crest, which results in a second surgical site, weakness in the harvest or donor harvest area, and additional patient morbidity. The goal of our research is to employ a local, ex vivo, gene therapy to obviate the need for autograft in spine fusion procedures. The LIM Mineralization Protein (LMP-1) is a novel intracellular protein capable of inducing bone formation in vitro and in vivo. In this article, I will outline a rapid protocol, whereby buffy coat cells, isolated from autologous peripheral blood, are transduced with an adenoviral vector encoding the LMP-1 gene. These transduced cells are then implanted on a collagen carrier to promote posterolateral arthodesis…