VIRAL VECTOR & GENE EDITING CORE

Lentiviral Vectors

Overview

What are Lentiviral Vectors?

Lentiviral vectors are powerful tools in basic research and gene therapy, derived from lentiviruses, a subgroup of retroviruses.

Applications in Gene Therapy

Lentiviral vectors have a wide range of applications, including:

Gene Therapy: They are used to treat genetic disorders by delivering therapeutic cargo to correct defective genes in patients.
Cancer Treatment: Lentiviral vectors are employed in advanced therapies like CAR Tcell therapy, where T-cells are modified to find and destroy cancer cells.
Vaccine Development: They are also being explored for use in vaccine development, for diseases where traditional vaccines are ineffective.
Preclinical Research: Lentiviral vectors are commonly used in basic research to introduce gene products into in vitro systems or animal models, facilitating studies on gene function and regulation.

Advantages of Lentiviral Vectors

Ability to Infect Non-Dividing Cells: Unlike many other viral vectors, lentiviral vectors can infect both dividing and non-dividing cells, broadening their application
Stable Gene Expression: Once integrated into the host genome, lentiviral vectors can provide stable and long-term expression of the therapeutic gene.
Low Immunogenicity: Engineered lentiviral vectors typically exhibit low immunogenicity, reducing the likelihood of an adverse immune response.

Safety Considerations

While lentiviral vectors offer significant therapeutic potential, there are important safety concerns, including:

Insertional Mutagenesis: The integration of the viral DNA into the host genome can disrupt essential genes or activate oncogenes, potentially leading to cancer.
Immune Reactions: Although designed to be less immunogenic, there is still a risk of the host immune system recognizing and reacting to the viral components.

Conclusion: Lentiviruses represent a promising avenue in gene therapy and molecular biology, with ongoing research aimed at optimizing their safety and efficacy. Their unique ability to deliver genetic material into a wide variety of cell types makes them invaluable tools in both research and clinical applications.

Product Information

The IPRD Viral Vector and Gene Editing Core offers high-quality lentiviral vectors in multiple grades to support a range of in vitro and in vivo applications. All vector preps are quality-controlled and can be customized upon request.

Titering and Aliquoting

All viral preps are rigorously titered for accuracy and reliability:

Flow cytometry or antibiotic-resistant colony counts are used for vectors expressing appropriate markers.
For marker-free vectors, real-time PCR (qPCR) on transduced cells is used.
Vectors are aliquoted in 1 mL, 10 mL, or 25 µL volumes depending on prep type.

Lentiviral Vector Prep Summary

Prep Type	Grade	Titer	Total Volume	Aliquot Size	Production Time	Academic Cost	Non-Academic Cost
Small Non-Concentrated	In Vitro	≥ 2.5 × 10⁷ vg/mL	10 mL	1 mL	7 days	$360	$450
Large Non-Concentrated	In Vitro	≥ 2.5 × 10⁷ vg/mL	100 mL	10 µL	7 days	$900	$1,125
Concentrated (In Vitro Grade)	In Vitro	≥ 5 × 10⁹ vg/mL	200 µL	25 µL	14 days	$1,080	$1,350
Small Concentrated (In Vivo Grade)	In Vivo	≥ 5 × 10⁹ vg/mL	50 µL	25 µL	14 days	$1,080	$1,350
Medium Concentrated (Standard In Vivo)	In Vivo	≥ 5 × 10⁹ vg/mL	200 µL	25 µL	21 days	$1,792	$2,231
Large Concentrated (In Vivo Grade)	In Vivo	≥ 5 × 10⁹ vg/mL	1 mL	25 µL	28 days	$1,080	$1,350

How to Order

To connect with the IPRD Viral Vector & Gene Editing Core and place an order, simply email your request to viral.core@med.fsu.edu