Recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) is derived from non-pathogenic wild type AAV. Based on its low immunogenicity, broad host range of infectivity including nondividing cells, AAV has recently become an attractive tool for gene therapy, vaccine and other gene transfer procedures.

Our Service
VGTC's proprietary system yields high quality AAV vectors for in vitro /in vivo applications and for clinical applications. Simply send a sample of your DNA to VGTC, we will take care of all production steps and ship you the quantity of quality purified AAV vectors you require. At VGTC, every lot of AAV vector produced is tracked and documented on our proprietary database. Batch records are available to support clinical research.

AAV vectors for any application
VGTC works with scientists in academic labs, industry and government. Most of the AAV vectors(Including AAV2 and other serotypes vectors: AAV2/1* and AAV5**) we produce are used for gene therapy and vaccine research and clinical trial. Academic labs and biotechnology companies find our OEM services to be timely and cost-effective.

A flexible service
Whether you require small scale AAV for your research use (Research Grade) or large scale AAV for clinical trial use (Clinical Grade), we will customize our services for you. Contact VGTC for a list of references to learn about the scope of our abilities.

About VGTC's proprietary AAV packaging system
Traditional method for AAV vector production is two plasmids co-transfection followed by helper virus (adenovirus or herpes simplex virus) infection packaging system or helper-free tri-plasmid packaging system. The main disadvantage of these systems is that multi-plasmid transfection is needed which limits the scale up of the production.

VGTC has developed a novel AAV vector production system to overcome the above obstacles. This system contains two components: "a vector cell lines and a helper virus". To producing rAAV vectors, one just needs to cultivate the vector cell lines at large scale and then infecting with the helper virus (HSV1-RC, a recombinant herpes simplex virus type 1 with AAV rep and cap genes inserting in the genome). The resulting cultures will contain large amount of rAAV as well as progeny HSV1-RC. The HSV1-RC could be inactivated and removed by purification procedures.

New Serotypes of AAV
The rationale for developing alternative AAV serotypes as vectors is the hope that the divergence of capsid proteins of the wildtype viruses will translate into vector particles that differ in tissue tropism and serology. In addition, in vitro and in vivo assays have proven the particles can at least partially escape humoral immune responses directed against the viral capsids of particular serotypes.

VGTC exploit new AAV serotypes of AAV2/1（also called AAV1/2）*and AAV5** with their manufacturing process. The related contract services provide to clients as well.

* AAV2/1,AAV2 ITRs and AAV1 capsid, infect more efficiently than AAV2 especially on muscle cells and liver.
** AAV5 infect more efficiently than AAV2 on nerve system and respiratory epithelia

VGTC’s AAV Production Methods
All the three serotypes (AAV2, AAV2/1 and AAV5) are packaged by the same method generally, that is
    A. Construction of AAV vector plasmid: target gene is cloned in rAAV vector plasmid (AAV2 and AAV2/1 using pSNAV; AAV5 using pSNAV5);;

    B. Construction of package cell line: Transfecting the AAV vector plasmid into mammalian cell lines (e.g. Vero, BHK et al.), and screening for package cell with G418;
    C. Cell amplification and AAV production: Amplifying the package cells with bio-reactors or rolling bottles, and infecting the cells with HSV1-RC to produce the AAV virus;
    D. AAV purification: The helper virus is inactivated and removed to undetectable level in the final products by heat treatment and several steps of chromatography purifications.