Virus contaminations of cell cultures – A biotechnological view |
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Authors: | O-W Merten |
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Institution: | (1) Généthon III, Evry-Cedex, France (E-mail |
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Abstract: | In contrast to contamination by microbes and mycoplasma, which can be relatively easily detected, viral contamination present
a serious threat because of the difficulty in detecting some viruses and the lack of effective methods of treating infected
cell cultures. While some viruses are capable of causing morphological changes to infected cells (e.g. cytopathic effect)
which are detectable by microscopy some viral contaminations result in the integration of the viral genome as provirus, this
causes no visual evidence, by means of modification of the cellular morphology. Virus production from such cell lines, are
potentially dangerous for other cell cultures (in research labs)by cross contaminations, or for operators and patients (in
the case of the production of injectable biologicals) because of potential infection. The only way to keep cell cultures for
research, development, and the biotech industry virus-free is the prevention of such contaminations. Cell cultures can become
contaminated by the following means: firstly, they may already be contaminated as primary cultures (because the source of
the cells was already infected), secondly, they were contaminated due to the use of contaminated raw materials, or thirdly,
they were contaminated via an animal passage. This overview describes the problems and risks associated with viral contaminations
in animal cell culture, describes the origins of these contaminations as well as the most important virsuses associated with
viral contaminations in cell culture. In addition, ways to prevent viral contaminations as well as measures undertaken to
avoid and assess risks for viral contaminations as performed in the biotech industry are briefly described.
This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. |
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Keywords: | animal cell culture CHO continuous cell lines hybridoma prevention primary cells raw materials risks viral contaminants |
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