Laboratory Biorisk Management Strategic Framework for Action

Although laboratory biosecurity is a relatively new concept to many, biosafety has been an established discipline for several decades. These fields have recently been elevated in prominence for a number of reasons, including laboratory acquired infections associated with SARS, the anthrax attacks in the US postal service, and renewed interest in the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), together with emerging issues relating to the rapid growth of biotechnology and concerns over the potential for illicit use of such technologies.
However, despite significant investments in this field during the last decade, and progress made in strengthening biorisk management, many countries remain without effective regulatory and oversight mechanisms, and levels of awareness are often low amongst regulators and laboratory personnel alike. In addition, basic information relating to laboratory design and operating parameters is often confusing, with a lack of evidence to underpin many commonly used controls.
Developing countries in particular often struggle to implement solutions which have been designed for use in other parts of the world where different working conditions prevail. Adequate support services are also needed to operate laboratories. However, effective supplier networks, maintenance provision and other basic measures are often unavailable to those most in need.
At present there is no overarching framework or global strategy in this area to provide strategic direction to ensure that investments are planned and implemented appropriately to meet these needs. Without such strategic planning, biorisk management runs the danger of failing to meet the objective of delivering solutions that allow countries to build stand-alone capacity and capability.
This plan sets out a basis and rationale for WHO’s role in supporting the measures and mechanisms required to move towards the objective of supporting safe and secure environments in and around every laboratory in the world.

REFERENCE:
Laboratory Biorisk Management Strategic Framework for Action 2012–2016
Publication details
Number of pages: 16
Publication date: 2012
Languages: English
WHO reference number: WHO/HSE/2012.3

-----------------------------------------------------------
Sigue este Blog en Facebook y Twitter

Prevalence and characterization of murine leukemia virus contamination in human cell lines

Contaminations of cell cultures with microbiological organisms are well documented and can be managed in cell culture laboratories applying reliable detection, elimination and prevention strategies. However, the presence of viral contaminations in cell cultures is still a matter of debate and cannot be determined with general detection methods. In the present study we screened 577 human cell lines for the presence of murine leukemia viruses (MLV). Nineteen cell lines were found to be contaminated with MLV, including 22RV1 which is contaminated with the xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus variant of MLV. Of these, 17 cell lines were shown to produce active retroviruses determined by product enhanced reverse transcriptase PCR assay for reverse transcriptase activity. The contaminated cell lines derive from various solid tumor types as well as from leukemia and lymphoma types. A contamination of primary human cells from healthy volunteers could not be substantiated. Sequence analyses of 17 MLV PCR products and five complete MLV genomes of different infected cell lines revealed at least three groups of related MLV genotypes. The viruses harvested from the supernatants of infected cell cultures were infectious to uninfected cell cultures. In the course of the study we found that contamination of human genomic DNA preparations with murine DNA can lead to false-positive results. Presumably, xenotransplantations of the human tumor cells into immune-deficient mice to determine the tumorigenicity of the cells are mainly responsible for the MLV contaminations. Furthermore, the use of murine feeder layer cells during the establishment of human cell lines and a cross-contamination with MLV from infected cultures might be sources of infection. A screening of cell cultures for MLV contamination is recommended given a contamination rate of 3.3%.

REFERENCE
Uphoff CC, Lange S, Denkmann SA, Garritsen HS, Drexler HG. Prevalence and characterization of murine leukemia virus contamination in human cell lines. PLoS One. 2015 Apr 30;10(4):e0125622. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0125622. eCollection 2015. PubMed PMID: 25927683; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4416031.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Sigue este Blog en Facebook y Twitter