Comparison of Lentiviral Packaging Mixes and Producer Cell Lines for RNAi Applications

Lentiviral transduction is a highly efficient DNA delivery method for RNA interference applications. However, obtaining high lentiviral titers of shRNA and miRNA encoding vectors is challenging, since shRNA and miRNA cassettes have been shown to reduce lentiviral titers. In this study, we compare four commercially available packaging mixes and two producer cell lines in order to optimize lentiviral production for gene silencing experiments. Lentiviral vectors encoding a miRNA sequence and emerald green fluorescence protein were co-transfected with ViraPower™, Lenti-X™ HTX, MISSION(®) Lentiviral or Trans-Lentiviral™ packaging mix in HEK-293T or 293FT cells. After transducing HeLa cells with virus-containing supernatant, lentiviral titers were determined by flow cytomerty. In both cell lines, the highest lentiviral titer was obtained with MISSION(®) Lentiviral packaging mix, followed by ViraPower™, Lenti-X™ HTX, and Trans-Lentiviral™. On average, HEK-293T cells produced 6.2-fold higher lentiviral titers than 293FT cells (p < 0.001). With the combination of MISSION(®) Lentiviral packaging mix and HEK-293T cells, an up to 48.5-fold higher lentiviral titer was reached compared to other packaging mixes and producer cell lines. The optimized selection of packaging mix and cell line described in this work should facilitate the production of high-titer lentiviruses for gene silencing experiments.