Lentivirus Purification Products

Both recombinant retrovirus and lentivirus are widely used in the transduction of a varity of target cells and can be produced by transient transfection, from which viral supernatant can be collected and used for target cell transduction. The titer of viral supernatant by transient transfection is approximately 10⁶ cfu (colony forming unit)/ml, which is sufficient for the generation of most stable cell lines in vitro. However, there are applications that require higher purity and titers. These applications include experiments demanding higher gene transduction efficiency and in vivo gene delivery. In addition, crude viral supernatants are not suitable for in vivo administration due to various contaminants contained in cell culture supernatant. Thus, the viral supernatant needs to be further concentrated and purified before use.

Traditionally, both recombinant retrovirus and lentivirus have been concentrated via ultracentrifugation. Although the method works well, it requires specific ultracentrifugation equipment and it is technically demanding. In addition, the total viral supernatant volume is limited to the size of ultracentrifugation tubes. Reports have also stated that the ultracentrifugation process has some detrimental physical effects on the recombinant virus.

Due to limitations on the existing technique, there is great necessity for a quick and efficient method to purify and concentrate recombinant retrovirus and lentivirus. Purification kit is based on Ion-Exchange filter membranes and is the most effective retroviral and lentiviral purification method.