Scale-up and manufacturing of clinical-grade self-inactivating γ-retroviral vectors by transient transfection.

The need for γ-retroviral (gRV) vectors with a self-inactivating (SIN) design for clinical application has prompted a shift in methodology of vector manufacturing from the traditional use of stable producer lines to transient transfection-based techniques. Herein, we set out to define and optimize a scalable manufacturing process for the production of gRV vectors using transfection in a closed-system bioreactor in compliance with current good manufacturing practices (cGMP). The process was based on transient transfection of 293T cells on Fibra-Cel disks in the Wave Bioreactor. Cells were harvested from tissue culture flasks and transferred to the bioreactor containing Fibra-Cel in the presence of vector plasmid, packaging plasmids and calcium-phosphate in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium and 10% fetal bovine serum. Virus supernatant was harvested at 10-14 h intervals. Using optimized procedures, a total of five ecotropic cGMP-grade gRV vectors were produced (9 liters each) with titers up to 3.6 × 10(7) infectious units per milliliter on 3T3 cells. One GMP preparation of vector-like particles was also produced. These results describe an optimized process for the generation of SIN viral vectors by transfection using a disposable platform that allows for the generation of clinical-grade viral vectors without the need for cleaning validation in a cost-effective manner.

Critical variables affecting clinical-grade production of the self-inactivating gamma-retroviral vector for the treatment of X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency.

Patients with X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID-X1) were successfully cured following gene therapy with a gamma-retroviral vector (gRV) expressing the common gamma chain of the interleukin-2 receptor (IL2RG). However, 5 of 20 patients developed leukemia from activation of cellular proto-oncogenes by viral enhancers in the long-terminal repeats (LTR) of the integrated vector. These events prompted the design of a gRV vector with self-inactivating (SIN) LTRs to enhance vector safety. Herein we report on the production of a clinical-grade SIN IL2RG gRV pseudotyped with the Gibbon Ape Leukemia Virus envelope for a new gene therapy trial for SCID-X1, and highlight variables that were found to be critical for transfection-based large-scale SIN gRV production. Successful clinical production required careful selection of culture medium without pre-added glutamine, reduced exposure of packaging cells to cell-dissociation enzyme, and presence of cations in wash buffer. The clinical vector was high titer; transduced 68-70% normal human CD34(+) cells, as determined by colony-forming unit assays and by xenotransplantation in immunodeficient NOD.CB17-Prkdc(scid)/J (nonobese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficiency (NOD/SCID)) and NOD.Cg-Prkdc(scid) Il2rg(tm1Wjl)/SzJ (NOD/SCID gamma (NSG))) mice; and resulted in the production of T cells in vitro from human SCID-X1 CD34(+) cells. The vector was certified and released for the treatment of SCID-X1 in a multi-center international phase I/II trial.

Screening for mitochondrial DNA heteroplasmy in children at risk for mitochondrial disease.

Temporal temperature gradient gel electrophoresis was used to screen 70% of the mtDNA, including all 22 tRNA genes, for heteroplasmy in 75 children with neuromuscular and/or multi-system dysfunction and elevated lactate levels, and in 95 controls. Standard PCR/ASO (allele specific oligonucleotide) and Southern analyses were also employed. Excluding common length variants, heteroplasmy was found in 22 patients and two controls (P < 0.001), with four patients demonstrating heteroplasmy in two locations each. Of the 23 heteroplasmic variants sequenced among the patients, 17 were novel point variants in the control region (CR) and only two involved tRNA genes. Heteroplasmy is highly associated with the disease group, and is predominately found in the CR, an area rarely studied in patient populations. These variants may be pathological mutations or disease markers.

[Differential diagnosis of schizophrenic symptoms complicated with brain anomalies including bilateral temporal arachnoid cysts by eye mark recorder and PET: a case study].

Bilateral temporal arachnoid cysts and other intracranial congenital lesions including a moderately large left temporal arachnoid cyst accompanied by remarkable dysplasia of the temporal lobe in particular were discovered by chance during computerized axial tomography of a 26-year-old Japanese male who had been diagnosed as schizophrenia approximately 10 years earlier. A detailed re-assessment revealed no other organic symptoms or signs. His symptoms and clinical course met the DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia, disorganized type. Based on his symptoms, positron emission tomography (PET) and the eye-movement recording test developed by Kojima et al. were performed. In addition, psychological tests including WAIS, Rorschach Test, and Wechsler's Memory Test were administered for further differential diagnosis. PET using continuous inhalation of oxygen 15-gas revealed a regional decrease in CBF and CMRO2 in the superior medial frontal lobe including the anterior cingulate gylus, findings sometimes associated with schizophrenia. However, no abnormal findings were noted around the arachnoid cysts. In the eye-movement recording test, several parameters including the responsive search score (RSS) were about the same level as that commonly observed in schizophrenics and are classified as schizophrenia by discrimination analysis. The psychological tests offered no reason to doubt the diagnosis of schizophrenia. Thus, the patient was diagnosed as schizophrenia with arachnoid cysts and other intracranial lesions. The way of diagnosis we used here might bring forth a breakthrough in schizophrenia research by differentiating schizophrenia from the other organic brain diseases.

Reflex sympathetic dystrophy: complex regional pain syndrome type I in children with mitochondrial disease and maternal inheritance.

OBJECTIVE: Complex regional pain syndrome type I (CRPS-I), previously known as reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD), is an idiopathic condition characterised by localised, abnormally intense and prolonged pain, allodynia and autonomic nervous system changes (ie, swelling, skin colour and temperature changes and altered perspiration) that usually appear following a "noxious" trigger such as trauma or surgery. The objective of this report is to demonstrate that children with CRPS-I can have additional dysautonomic conditions secondary to an underlying maternally inherited mitochondrial disease, an association not previously published. METHODS: Medical records of about 500 patients seen by one paediatric metabolic geneticist were reviewed to identify children meeting established CRPS diagnostic criteria. RESULTS: CRPS-I was present in eight children in seven families, each of which also had additional functional/dysautonomic conditions, the most common (> or = 4 cases per condition) being gastrointestinal dysmotility, migraine, cyclic vomiting and chronic fatigue. All seven probands studied met Nijmegen (2002) diagnostic criteria for definite mitochondrial disease on the basis of the clinical signs and symptoms and biochemical analyses. Six of the seven families met our pedigree-based criteria for probable maternal inheritance. CONCLUSION: In one tertiary-care paediatric genetics practice, children meeting the CRPS-I diagnostic criteria frequently had additional autonomic-related conditions secondary to maternally inherited mitochondrial disease, suggesting that mitochondrial DNA sequence variants can predispose children towards the development of CRPS-I and other dysautonomias. CRPS-I should be considered in patients with mitochondrial disease who complain of idiopathic pain. Maternally inherited mitochondrial disease may not be a rare cause of CRPS-I, especially in children who present with other manifestations of dysautonomia.

The woodchuck hepatitis virus post-transcriptional regulatory element reduces readthrough transcription from retroviral vectors.

The woodchuck hepatitis virus post-transcriptional regulatory element (WPRE) increases transgene expression from a variety of viral vectors, although the precise mechanism is not known. WPRE is most effective when placed downstream of the transgene, proximal to the polyadenylation signal. We hypothesized that WPRE likely reduces viral mRNA readthrough transcription by improving transcript termination, which in turn would increase viral titers and expression. Using a Cre-lox-mediated plasmid-based assay, we found significant readthrough transcription from gamma-retroviral vector (RV) long terminal repeat (wt RV-LTR) and RV LTR with a self-inactivating deletion (SIN RV-LTR). WPRE, when placed upstream of the RV LTRs, significantly reduced readthrough transcription. Readthrough, present at much lower levels with the SIN HIV-1 LV-LTR, was also reduced with WPRE. When placed in RV vectors, WPRE increased total RV genomic mRNA; and increased viral titers from transiently transfected 293T cells and stable PG13 producer cells by 7- to 15-fold. The mechanism of increased titers and expression was not due to increased nuclear mRNA export, increased rate of viral transcription or a significant increase in viral mRNA half-life. Our results showed that WPRE improved vector genomic transcript termination to increase titers and expression from RVs.

Epidemiological survey of dementia and depression among the aged living in the community in Japan.

The authors surveyed the prevalence of depression and dementia in the elderly in Ohira town in Japan from 1989 to 1990. The total population of this town was 26,712, with 2,778 people aged 65 and above, constituting 10.4% of the total population. The prevalence of dementia (n = 128) was 6.1% and that of major depression (n = 9) was 0.4%, according to the DSM-III-R criteria. The prevalence of a depressive state which did not fulfill the criteria for major depression (n = 55) was 2.4%. The patients with multi-infarct dementia (n = 49) suffered from depression (42.8%) more frequently than those with dementia of the Alzheimer type (11.1%). The rate of depression coexisting with dementia increased with aging, while the rate of depression without dementia did not change in all the age groups.