Lentiviral Vector Production Using Single-Use Bioreactors

Lentivirus (LV) is an enveloped RNA virus characterized by its capability to integrate viral RNA into the DNA of host cells. Because of this, LV vectors (LVV) are utilized in the field of cell and gene therapy to deliver nucleic acids into target cells, both in vivo and ex vivo. However, vector production contributes significantly to the overall costs of manufacturing cell and gene therapies. Thus, improvements in vector production are significant, as they can reduce manufacturing costs and improve the availability of therapies.

Here, we outline a scalable, robust, and closed upstream process developed for LVV production of HEK293T cells and demonstrate how HEK293T suspension cells can be expanded from cryovials to small cell culture in shake flasks and up to a 10 L bioreactor culture.