Reporter Assay for Detection and Quantitation of Replication-Competent Gammaretrovirus
Gammaretroviral vectors were the first viral gene-therapy vectors to enter clinical trials and remain in use. One potential hazard associated with the use of such vectors is the presence of replication-competent retroviruses (RCR) in the vector preparations – either as a result of: 1) recombination events between the plasmids used for vector production, 2) interactions between the plasmids and endogenous retroviral sequences in the packaging cell lines, or 3) as a result of contamination in the laboratory.