Optimizing a Method for the Quantification by Quantitative Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction of Host Cell DNA in Plasmid Vector Batches Used in Human Gene Therapy

Gene therapy products are very complex advanced therapy medicinal products produced using different processes that require many chemical and biological reagents and production intermediates, such as producing cells. The quantification of residual impurities in gene therapy vectors is a major quality control step when these vectors are used for therapeutic purposes, whether or not they are derived from viruses. Indeed, in nonviral gene therapy products, particularly plasmid vectors used to transfer genetic material, the presence of host-cell DNA (HCDNA) from the bacterial cells used for the vector production is an important concern because of the risk of immunogenicity and insertional mutagenesis. Several methods have been developed to quantify residual HCDNA, but real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) seems to be most suitable because it allows detecting traces of "contaminating'' DNA. The French National Agency for Medicines and Health Products Safety (ANSM) ensures the quality and safety of gene transfer medicinal products and must be able to quantify, in its own laboratories, the amount of HCDNA present in plasmid vector batches. Therefore, we developed and validated a qPCR method to quantify at the femtogram level the presence of Escherichia coli residual DNA in plasmid vectors. This approach uses the capillary-based LightCycler 1.5 System (Roche) with SYBR Green I, a primer pair against the E. coli 23S ribosomal RNA gene and different concentrations of a linearized plasmid that contains the 23S target sequence, as standard. This qPCR method is linear on an 8-decade logarithmic scale, accurate, reproducible, and sensitive (quantification of up to 10 copies of 23S target sequence per reaction, or 1.4 E. coli genome, or 7 fg of bacterial DNA). This technique allows ensuring that batches of plasmid vectors to be used in clinical trials comply with the specifications on HCDNA content.