Vero cell platform in vaccine production: moving towards cell culture-based viral vaccines

Abstract

The development of cell culture systems for virus propagation has led to major advances in virus vaccine development. Primary and diploid cell culture systems are now being replaced by the use of continuous cell lines (CCLs). These substrates are gaining increasing acceptance from regulatory authorities as improved screening technologies remove fears regarding their potential oncogenic properties. The Vero cell line is the most widely accepted CCL by regulatory authorities and has been used for over 30 years for the production of polio and rabies virus vaccines. The recent licensure of a Vero cell-derived live virus vaccine (ACAM2000, smallpox vaccine) has coincided with an explosion in the development of a range of new viral vaccines, ranging from live-attenuated pediatric vaccines against rotavirus infections to inactivated whole-virus vaccines against H5N1 pandemic influenza. These developments have illustrated the value of this cell culture platform in the rapid development of vaccines against a range of virus diseases.

Keywords::

• continuous cell line
• emerging virus disease
• influenza
• rotavirus
• smallpox
• Vero
• viral vaccine

Financial & competing interests disclosure

All authors are employees of Baxter Healthcare, a vaccine manufacturer. They are all holders of company stock and stock options. P Noel Barrett, Wolfgang Mundt and Otfried Kistner are holders of patents concerning vaccine manufacture in Vero cells. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.