Methods for enhancing the production of viral vaccines in animal cell culture are described. These methods rely on the manipulation of the cellular levels of certain interferon induced antiviral activities, in particular, cellular levels of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) dependent kinase (PKR) and 2'-5' oligoadenylate synthetase (2-5A synthetase). In cell cultures deficient for PKR or 2-5A synthetase, viral yield is enhanced by several orders of magnitude over cell cultures with normal levels of these proteins making these cell cultures useful for the production of viral vaccines.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for enhanced vaccine production in cell culture. It is another object of the invention to provide methods for the evaluation of antiviral compounds and for the identification and culture of viral pathogens.

These objects are generally accomplished by providing animal cell cultures in which the expression of the interferon genes is substantially decreased from the normal level of expression. This may be effected by manipulating the level of expression of factors that function in vivo to regulate the interferon level, including interferon transcriptional regulators (for example, IRF1), interferon receptors and interferon stimulated gene products (for example PKR and 2-5A synthetase).

These objects are particularly accomplished by providing various methods using animal cell cultures in which the level of interferon-mediated antiviral protein activity, particularly for double-stranded RNA dependent kinase (PKR) and 2'-5' Oligoadenylate synthetase (2-5A synthetase), is significantly decreased from the normal levels. Among the various methods provided are methods for vaccine production, methods for determining the antiviral activity of a compound, and methods for detecting a virus in a sample.

DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS

The present invention relies upon the discovery by the inventor that the level of interferon production in cells can be regulated by manipulating the expression or activity of certain factors that normally regulate interferon expression and activity in vivo. These factors include certain interferon-specific transcriptional regulators, particularly IRF1, certain interferon receptors, as well as the gene products of certain interferon simulated genes (also called interferon-mediated antiviral responses), particularly PKR and 2-5A synthetase. Suppression or elimination of the expression or activity of any of these factors will result in a lower than normal level of expression of interferon genes. One consequence of this lower than normal interferon expression level is an increased permissiveness of the cell to viral replication. An increased permissiveness of the cell to viral reproduction means that greater viral production can be achieved in that cell relative to a cell having normal interferon expression. Cells having an increased permissiveness to viral replication are useful for a number of applications including vaccine production, sensitive detection of low levels of virus and for the evaluation of antiviral compounds.

The present inventor has surprisingly found that animal cells that are deficient in interferon-mediated antiviral responses, particularly cells deficient in dsRNA dependent kinase, 2N-5N. Oligoadenylate synthetase or both, produce a higher viral yield when infected with an animal virus than cells with normal levels of these proteins. Increases of viral yield by as much as 10.sup.3 to 10.sup.4 or more can be obtained using the method of the present invention. The ability to obtain high yields of virus in PKR- or 2-5A synthetase-deficient cell culture makes it possible to produce large amounts of virus within a short time. This is particularly important for production of viral vaccines, most particularly for RNA virus, including influenza virus. The increased permissiveness of the deficient cells to viral replication makes them useful in a method for evaluating antiviral drugs in cell culture and in a method for detecting viral pathogens.

One aspect of the present invention provides a method for production of a viral vaccine in cell culture which comprises (a) infecting a cell culture with a donor strain animal virus, wherein said cell culture is deficient in the activity of the gene product of an interferon-stimulated gene, (b) culturing the infected cell culture under conditions sufficient to provide efficient virus growth, and (c) harvesting the virus produced. The harvested virus may be additionally prepared for vaccine use by purification, for instance by sterile filtration, ultrafiltration and/or concentration by column chromatography or other methods. The harvested virus may optionally be treated to inactivate the virus for the production of killed viral vaccines.

In a preferred embodiment, the cell culture is deficient in PKR activity. By PKR-deficient is meant that the PKR activity is less than 5% of the normal level of PKR activity. By normal level of PKR activity is meant the PKR activity observed in the parental cell culture from which the stable PKR-deficient cells are obtained or, if the PKR-deficiency is transiently induced, the PKR activity level observed in the cells before induction to PKR-deficiency. Preferably, the PKR-deficient cells have less than 1% of the normal level of PKR activity, more preferably the PKR-deficient cells have less than 0.1% of the normal level of PKR activity. By PKR activity is meant the ability to mediate the antiviral and antiproliferative activities of IFN-.alpha. and IFN-.beta., the ability to phosphorylate initiation factor e1F-2.alpha., or the ability to phosphorylate I.kappa.B.alpha. to release nuclear factor .kappa.B. By PKR is meant human p68 kinase or any analog or homolog of human p68 kinase. By analog of human p68 kinase is meant any double-stranded RNA-dependent kinase that mediates ds-RNA activation of interferon transcription. Typically, such ds-RNA dependent kinases are p68 kinase equivalents present in other species, such as, for example, rabbits or mice and in different tissues among the various species. For example, murine p65 kinase is an analog of human p68 kinase. Another example of an analog of p68 kinase has been described in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (Farrel et al.) By homolog is meant a protein homologous to at least one domain of human p68 kinase, such as, for example, the dsRNA-binding domain or the kinase domain. One such functional kinase homolog is yeast GCN2 kinase.

PKR-deficient cells can be obtained by any of a variety of methods that are well-known in the art. PKR-deficient mutants can be stably PKR-deficient or may be transiently induced to PKR-deficiency. Techniques for producing stable PKR-deficient mutants include, but are not limited to, random or site-directed mutagenesis (for example, Deng W P, and Nickoloff J A Analytical Biochemistry 1992 200:81 88; Busby S, Irani M, Crombrugghe B. J. Mol Biol 1982 154:197 209), targeted gene deletion ("gene knock-out") (for example, Camper S A, et al. Biology of Reproduction 1995 52:246 257; Aguzzi A, Brandner S, Sure U et al. Brain Pathology 1994 4:3 20), transfection with PKR antisense polynucleotides (for example, Lee et al. Virology 1993 192:380 385) and transfection with a PKR dominant negative mutant gene.

A PKR dominant mutant is a PKR mutant for which only a single allele need be expressed in order to suppress normal PKR activity. PKR dominant mutant genes include a mutant human p68 kinase, a mutant murine p65 kinase, and mutants of any other ds-RNA dependent kinases or mutants of analogs or homologs of human p68 kinase that suppress normal PKR activity, for example [Arg.sup.296]PKR (Meurs et al. J. Virol. 1992 66:5805 5814). Examples of other PKR dominant mutants include mutants of PKR obtained from rabbit reticulocytes, different mouse tissues and human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (Farrel et al., Levin et al., Hovanessian, Krust et al., Buffet-Janvresse et al.) PKR dominant mutants include mutants of functional homologs that suppress protein synthesis by interfering with initiation factor phosphorylation, particularly phosphorylation of e1F-2.alpha.. One such functional kinase homolog mutant is a mutant of yeast GCN2 kinase.

Techniques for producing cells that are transiently PKR-deficient include, but are not limited to, use of 2'-5' oligoadenylate-linked PKR antisense oligonucleotides (Maran, A., Maitra, R. K., Kumar, A., Dong, B., Xiao, W., Li, G., Williams, B. R. G., Torrence, P. F. & Silverman, R. H. (1994) Science 265, 789 792) or specific inhibitors of the PKR protein, such as 2-aminopurine (Marcus, P. I. & Sekellick, M. J. (1988) J. Gen. Virol. 69, 163745, Zinn, K., Keller, A., Whittemore, L. A. & Maniatis, T. (1988) Science 240, 210 3) as well as other competitive inhibitors that can block phosphorylation of PKR substrates, or inhibitors that can block double-stranded RNA binding. Transiently PKR-deficient cell cultures can be obtained by culturing a cell line in the presence of such antisense oligonucleotides or inhibitors.

Preferably for use in the method of the present invention, cell cultures will be stably PKR-deficient. Typically, PKR-deficient cell cultures are produced by transfection of a parent cell line, preferably a cell line currently used in vaccine production, preferably MRC-5, WI-38, or Vero (African Green Monkey cell), with a vector containing a functional PKR antisense gene construct or a PKR dominant negative mutant construct followed by selection of those cells that have received the vector. A functional PKR antisense gene construct may be prepared by conventional methods; for example, by cloning a PKR cDNA such as that described in Meurs et al. (Cell 1990 62:379 390), in an antisense orientation, under the control of an appropriate promoter, for example a CMV promoter. A PKR dominant negative mutant construct can be prepared by cloning the cDNA for a PKR dominant negative mutant, for example the cDNA for [Arg.sup.296]PKR, under the control of an appropriate promoter.

Preferably the PKR mutant gene constructs are cloned under the control of an inducible promoter to reduce the risk of tumor formation by these PKR-deficient cells since the cells are to be used for vaccine production in the methods of the invention. This method will ensure the safety of the vaccines produced by these cells. The loss of PKR activity has been associated with tumor formation (Koromilas et al.; Meurs et al.). Although the harvested virus can be purified from cell culture components, there nevertheless remains a risk that some PKR-deficient cells would be carried over into the final vaccine preparation. If PKR activity remains constitutively suppressed, these cells may potentially become tumorigenic. This would create potential health risk for the vaccine recipient. However, if an inducible promoter is used to control expression of the gene construct, endogenous PKR activity would be restored upon removal of the inducer. Suitable inducible promoters include a lac promoter, a heat shock promoter, a metallothionein promoter, a glucocorticoid promoter, or any other inducible promoter known to one skilled in the art.

Other ways of constructing similar vectors, for example using chemically or enzymatically synthesized DNA, fragments of the PKR cDNA or PKR gene, will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art. Transfection of the parental cell culture is carried out by standard methods, for example, the DEAE-dextran method (McCutchen and Pagano, 1968, J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 41:351 357), the calcium phosphate procedure (Graham et al., 1973, J. Virol. 33:739 748) or by any other method known in the art, including but not limited to microinjection, lipofection, and electroporation. Such methods are generally described in Sambrook et al., Molecular Cloning: A laboratory manual, 2nd Edition, 1989, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. Transfectants having deficient PKR activity are selected. For ease of selection, a marker gene such as neomycin phosphotransferase II, ampicillin resistance or G418 resistance, may be included in the vector carrying the antisense or mutant gene. When a marker gene is included, the transfectant may be selected for expression of the marker gene (e.g. antibiotic resistance), cultured and then assayed for PKR activity.

Residual PKR activity in PKR-deficient cells can be determined by any of a number of techniques that are well-known in the art. The activity of PKR can be determined directly by, for example, an autophosphorylation assay such as that described in Maran et al. (Science 265:789 792 1994) or Silverman et al. (Silverman, R. H., and Krause, D. (1986) in Interferons: A practical approach. Morris, A. G. and Clemens, M. J., eds. pp. 71 74 IRL Press, Oxford-Washington, D.C.). Typically, an autophosphorylation assay for PKR activity is carried out as follows. Extracts from cells to be examined for PKR activity which contain approximately 100 .mu.g of protein are incubated with 20 .mu.l of poly(I):poly(C)-cellulose beads for 60 min on ice. The kinase is immobilized and activated on the beads. After washings of the polynucleotide cellulose-bound kinase fractions, an autophosphorylation reaction is performed at 30.degree. C. for 30 min in an assay solution. The assay solution contains 1 .mu.Ci of [.gamma..sup.32P]ATP, 1.5 mM magnesium acetate, 10 .mu.M ATP pH 7.5, 0.5% NP 40, and 100 .mu.g/ml leupeptin. The samples are heated at 90.degree. C. for 3 min in gel sample buffer containing sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and the proteins are analyzed by 10% SD S-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The gels are dried and autoradiographs are prepared using XAR-5X-ray film (KodaK).

Residual PKR activity may also be determined indirectly by assaying for the presence of the PKR protein, for example by Western blot with PKR specific antibodies, or for the presence of PKR RNA, for example by Northern blot with oligonucleotide or cDNA probes specific for PKR. As will be readily apparent, the type of assay appropriate for determination of residual PKR activity will in most cases depend on the method used to obtain the PKR-deficient phenotype. If, for example, the method used to produce the PKR-deficient cell results in suppression or elimination of PKR gene expression (for example, gene knock-out), analysis techniques that detect the presence of mRNA or cDNA (e.g. Northern or Southern blots) or the presence of the protein (e.g. Western blot) or that detect the protein activity may be useful to determine the residual PKR activity in the PKR-deficient cells. On the other hand, if the method used to produce the PKR-deficient cells results in inhibition of the protein rather than elimination of expression of the gene (for instance, transfection with a vector carrying a dominant negative PKR mutant), an autophosphorylation assay is more appropriate than a Western blot for determination of the residual PKR activity.

In another embodiment, the present invention provides a method for production of a viral vaccine in a cell culture that is deficient in 2'-5' Oligoadenylate synthetase activity. A cell culture deficient in 2-5A synthetase can be isolated in a similar fashion to cell cultures deficient in PKR, for example, random or site-directed mutagenesis, targeted gene deletion of the 2-5A synthetase genes or transfection with antisense 2-5A synthetase constructs. By 2-5A synthetase-deficient is meant that the 2-5 A synthetase activity is less than 5% of the normal level of 2-5A synthetase activity. By normal level of 2-5A synthetase activity is meant the 2-5A synthetase activity observed in the parental cell culture from which the stable 2-5A synthetase-deficient cells are obtained or, if the 2-5A synthetase-deficiency is transiently induced, the 2-5A synthetase activity level observed in the cells before induction to 2-5A synthetase-deficiency. Preferably, the 2-5A synthetase-deficient cells have less than 1% of the normal level of 2-5A synthetase activity, more preferably the 2-5A synthetase-deficient cells have less than 0.1% of the normal level of 2-5A synthetase activity. Residual 2-5A synthetase activity in 2-5A synthetase-deficient cells can be determined by methods similar to those used for determining residual PKR activity, that is, Western blots using 2-5A synthetase specific antibodies, Northern blots using oligonucleotide or cDNA probes specific for 2-5A synthetase or enzyme activity assays (see, Read et al. J. Infect. Dis. 1985 152:466 472; Hassel and Ts'o J. Virol. Methods 1994 50:323 334). Typically, 2-5A synthetase activity is determined as follows. Cells to be assayed are treated with IFN-.alpha..sub.2 (100 U/lml in RPMI plus 10% fetal bovine serum). Briefly, the cell cultures are incubated for 18 hr at 37.degree. C., washed and the cell pellets are treated with cell lysis buffer for 10 min at 4.degree. C. Aliquots of the cellular extract are incubated with poly(1):poly(C)-agarose beads for 30 min at 30.degree. C., to allow for binding as well as activation of the 2-5A synthetase enzyme. The beads are washed and then incubated in an assay solution containing 3 mM ATP, 4 .mu.Ci .sup.3H-ATP per assay sample, and 20 mM Hepes buffer pH 7.5 for 20 hr at 30.degree. C. Following incubation, the samples are heated at 90.degree. C. to inactivate the enzyme, followed by treatment with bacterial alkaline phosphatase (BAP). The 2-5 oligoA synthesized is resistant to BAP. The amount of 2-5 oligo A is determined by spotting a sample onto filter paper, washing and counting the .sup.3H radioactivity using a scintillation counter. The amount of oligoA product produced is correlated with the enzyme activity by conventional methods. Alternatively, 2-5A synthetase can be assayed by a radioimmune and radiobinding method (Knight M, et al. Radioimmune, radiobinding and HPLC analysis of 2-5A and related oligonucleotides from intact cells Nature 1980 288:189 192).

It will be apparent that cell cultures deficient in both PKR activity and 2-5A synthetase activity can be made by a combination of the methods described above. The doubly deficient cell cultures can be prepared either sequentially (that is, by first selecting cultures deficient in one activity and then using that cell culture as the starting material for preparing the second deficient culture) or simultaneously (selection for both deficiencies at once).

In another embodiment, the present invention provides a method for production of a viral vaccine in a cell culture that is deficient in human MxA protein activity. A cell culture deficient in human MxA protein activity can be isolated in a similar fashion to cell cultures deficient in PKR, for example, random or site-directed mutagenesis, targeted gene deletion of the MxA genes or transfection with antisense MxA constructs. By MxA protein-deficient is meant that the MxA activity is less than 5% of the normal level of MxA activity. By normal level of MxA activity is meant the MxA activity observed in the parental cell culture from which the stable MxA-deficient cells are obtained or, if the MxA-deficiency is transiently induced, the MxA activity level observed in the cells before induction to MxA-deficiency. Preferably, the MxA-deficient cells have less than 1% of the normal level of MxA activity, more preferably the MxA-deficient cells have less than 0.1% of the normal level of MxA activity. Residual MxA activity in MxA-deficient cells can be determined by methods similar to those used for determining residual PKR activity, that is, Westernblots using MxA specific antibodies, Northern blots using oligonucleotide or cDNA probes specific for MxA or enzyme activity assays (Garber et al. (1991) Virology 180, 754 762; Zurcher et al. (1992) Journal of Virology 66, 5059 5066). Typically, MxA activity is determined as described in Zurcher et al.

In yet another embodiment, the present invention provides a method for production of a viral vaccine in a cell culture that is deficient in interferon responsiveness. By interferon responsiveness is meant the ability of a cell to respond to stimulation by interferon. A cell culture deficient in interferon responsiveness can be obtained by culturing the cells in the presence of an inhibitor of an interferon receptor. Alternatively, cells can be engineered to express, in the absence of a normal interferon receptor, a mutant interferon receptor that is unresponsive to interferon.

In another embodiment, the present invention provides a method for production of a viral vaccine in a cell culture that is deficient in interferon-specific transcriptional regulators. One such interferon-specific transcriptional regulator is IRF1. Cells stably deficient in interferon-specific transcriptional regulators can be obtained by any of a number of techniques well known in the art, such as, for example, random or site-directed mutagenesis, targeted gene deletion, or transfection with antisense vectors. Transiently deficient cells can be obtained by culturing cells in the presence of antisense oligonucleotides or specific inhibitors of interferon transcription.

The method of the present invention can be practiced with a variety of animal cell cultures, including primary cell cultures, diploid cell cultures and continuous cell cultures. Particularly useful are cell cultures that are currently used for the production of vaccine, most particularly those cell cultures that have been approved for vaccine production by the USFDA and or WHO, for example, MRC-5, a human diploid cell line from fetal lung tissue (Nature Lond. 1970 227:168 170) and WI-38, a human diploid cell line derived from embryonic lung tissue (Am. J. Hyg. 1962 75:240; First International Conference on Vaccines Against Viral and Rickettsial Diseases of Man, Pan American Health Organization, Pub. No. 147: 581 May 1981). Also useful are Chang liver cells (Chang, RS Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med. 1954 87:440), U937 human promonocytic cells (Sundstrom et al. Int. J. Cancer 1976 17:565 577), Vero cells, MRC-9 cells, 1MR-90 cells, 1MR-91 cells and Lederle 130 cells (Biologicals 18:143 146 1991). U937 cells are particularly useful for viruses that infect immune cells expressing CD4, for example, HIV. For a general review of cell cultures used in the production of vaccines see Grachev, V. P. in Viral Vaccines Mizrahi, A. ed. pages 37 67 1990 Wiley-Liss. The particular cell culture chosen will depend on the virus which is to be produced; in general, the cell culture will be derived from the species which is the natural host for the virus, although this is not essential for the practice of the present invention (for example, human virus can be grown on a canine kidney cell line (MDCK cells) or a green monkey kidney cell line (Vero cells; Swanson et al. J. Biol. Stand. 1988 16:311)). Typically, the cells chosen will be PKR-deficient or 2-5A synthetase-deficient derivatives of cells or cell lines known to be an appropriate host for the virus to be produced. For example, for influenza virus and hepatitis A virus vaccines, preferred host cells are derivatives of MRC-5. For HIV vaccine production, preferred host cells are derivatives of U937, H9, CEM or CD4-expressing HUT78 cells. Cell lines used for the production of vaccines are well known and readily available from commercial suppliers, for example, American Type Culture Collection.

The infection of the interferon-mediated antiviral response-deficient cells with donor virus according to the present invention is carried out by conventional techniques (see for example Peetermans, J. Vaccine 1992 10 supp 1:S99 101; Shevitz et al. in Viral Vaccines Mizrahi, a. ed. pp 1 35 1990 Wiley-Liss). Typically, virus is added to the cell culture at between 0.001 to 0.5 TCID.sub.50 per cell, preferably at 0.01 to 0.10 TCID.sub.50 per cell, but will vary as appropriate for the particular virus and cell host being used. As is readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art, every cell of the cell culture need not be infected initially for efficient viral production. The infected cells are cultured under conditions appropriate for the particular cells and viral production at various times after infection is monitored. Viral production can be monitored by any of a number of standard techniques including plaque-forming unit assays, TCID.sub.50 assays or hemagglutination inhibition assays (Robertson et al. J. Gen. Virol. 1991 72:2671 2677). The infected cells are cultured under conditions sufficient to provide-efficient viral growth. The cells can be cultured until maximum viral production is achieved as indicated by a plateauing of the viral yield. The virus is harvested by standard techniques and substantially purified from other cellular components (see for example, Peetermans 1992). The harvested virus may be used as a live viral vaccine, either fully virulent or attenuated, or may be inactivated before use by methods that are well-known in the art, for example, by treatment with formaldehyde (Peetermans, J Vaccine 1992 10 Suppl 1:S99 101; U.S. Pat. No. RE 33,164).

The vaccine may be available in dry form, to be mixed with a diluent, or may be in liquid form, preferably in aqueous solution, either concentrated or ready to use. The vaccine is administered alone or in combination with pharmaceutically acceptable carriers, adjuvants, preservatives, diluents and other additives useful to enhance immunogenicity or aid in administration or storage as are well-known in the art. Suitable adjuvants include aluminum hydroxide, alum, aluminum phosphate, Freunds or those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,790,665 and 3,919,411. Other suitable additives include sucrose, dextrose, lactose, and other non-toxic substances. The vaccines are administered to animals by various routes, including intramuscular, intravenous, subcutaneous, intratracheal, intranasal, or by aerosol spray and the vaccines are contemplated for the beneficial use in a variety of animals including human, equine, avian, feline, canine and bovine.

The method of the present invention can be practiced with a variety of donor animal viruses. By donor virus is meant the particular viral strain that is replicated in vitro to produce the vaccine. The particular donor animal virus used will depend upon the viral vaccine desired. Donor viruses currently used for vaccine production are well-known in the art and the method of the present invention can be readily adapted to any newly identified donor virus. Preferred donor viruses include human influenza virus, especially influenza A (H3N2) and influenza A (H1N1) (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,552,758; ATCC Nos. VR-2072, VR-2073, VR-897); influenza A described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,953,592; influenza B (U.S. Pat. No. 3,962,423; ATCC Nos. VR-786, VR-791); and Parainfluenza 1 (Sendai virus) (Cantell et al. Meth. Enzymol. 78A:299 301 1980; ATCC No. VR-907). The donor virus can be identical to the viral pathogen or may be a naturally-occurring attenuated form, an attenuated form produced by serial passage through cell culture or a recombinant or reassortant form. Any viral strain may be used as donor virus provided that it retains the requisite antigenicity to afford protection against the viral pathogen. The method of the present invention is particularly useful with attenuated or poorly replicating donor viruses.

Some of the vaccines that can be provided by the methods of the present invention include, but are not limited to, human vaccines for poliovirus, measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis A, influenza, parainfluenza, Japanese encephalitis, cytomegalovirus, HIV, Dengue fever virus, rabies and Varicella-zoster virus, as well as many non-human animal vaccines including, for example, vaccines for feline leukemia virus, bovine rhinotracheitis virus (red nose virus), cowpox virus, canine hepatitis virus, canine distemper virus, equine rhinovirus, equine influenza virus, equine pneumonia virus, equine infectious anemia virus, equine encephalitis virus, ovine encephalitis virus, ovine blue tongue virus, rabies virus, swine influenza virus and simian immunodeficiency virus. As will be apparent from the foregoing, the method of the present invention is not limited to vaccine production for human viruses but is equally suitable for production of non-human animal viral vaccines.

Another aspect of the present invention provides a method for evaluating the activity of antiviral compounds. Due to the increased permissiveness of the PKR-deficient cells to viral replication, the cells are useful in a sensitive assay for assessing the effectiveness of antiviral compounds. In this aspect, the present invention comprises the steps of (a) treating a virus, virus-infected host cells or host cells prior to virus infection with the antiviral compound and (b) assaying for the presence of remaining infectious virus by exposure under infective conditions of a PKR-deficient or 2-5A synthetase-deficient indicator cell culture.

In this aspect, the virus against which the antiviral compound is to be tested may be treated directly with the compound. In this case, the treated virus may then be analyzed directly for the presence of remaining infectious virus by exposure under infective conditions of a PKR-deficient or 2-5A synthetase-deficient indicator cell culture to an aliquot of the treated virus, culturing for a time sufficient to allow replication of any remaining infectious virus and analyzing the indicator culture for the presence of the replicated virus. Alternatively, the virus against which the antiviral compound is to be tested may be used to infect a host cell culture, the infected host cell culture is then treated with the antiviral compound. A cell extract of the treated infected host cell culture is prepared by conventional techniques and an aliquot of the extract is analyzed for the presence of remaining infectious virus by exposure to a PKR-deficient or 2-5A synthetase-deficient indicator cell culture as described above. In another alternative, the host cell culture may be treated with the antiviral compound prior to infection with the virus rather than after infection. The treated cells are then infected with the virus against which the antiviral compound is to be tested, cultured and analyzed for the presence of replicated virus. The particular treatment regime chosen will depend upon the known or postulated mode of action of the antiviral compound and will be readily within the determination of one skilled in the art. By exposure under infective conditions is intended the bringing together the deficient indicator cell culture and an aliquot of the treated sample (either virus or infected cell extract) under conditions that would result in infection of the deficient cell culture if any virus was present in the treated sample. After exposure to the treated sample, the deficient indicator cell culture is cultured further and assayed for the replication of the virus, by standard method (for example, plaque assays or TCID.sub.50assays or Northern or Western analysis for viral RNA or protein).

The host cell culture may be any cell culture which is susceptible to infection by the virus against which the antiviral compound is to be tested. The indicator cell culture is a PKR-deficient or 2-5A synthetase deficient cell culture that is used to assay for infectious virus remaining after treatment with the antiviral compound. The indicator PKR-deficient or 2-5 A synthetase deficient cell culture is prepared as described above for vaccine production. Cells suitable as a parent for generating the deficient indicator are the same as those that are useful for generating the PKR-deficient or 2-5A synthetase deficient cell cultures for vaccine production. In addition, the following cell lines are also suitable: hepatoma cell lines in general, particularly Hep G2 human hepatocellular carcinoma (Nature 1979 282:615 616; U.S. Pat. No. 4,393,133) and Hep 3B (U.S. Pat. No. 4,393,133). It will be apparent that the indicator cell culture is also susceptible to infection by the virus against which the antiviral compound is to be treated. The host cell culture and the indicator cell culture may be the same or different. The antiviral compound can be any chemical or biological preparation suspected of having some antiviral activity. If the virus itself is treated with the antiviral compound, the compound may be removed before infection of the indicator cell culture by exposure to the treated virus. If an infected host cell culture (or a pre-infected host cell culture) is treated with the antiviral compound, the compound may be removed before preparation of the cell extract.

In a separate related aspect, the present invention provides a method for identification and culture of viral pathogens. The permissiveness of PKR-deficient cells to viral replication makes them particularly useful in a method to detect very low levels of virus and/or viruses that are difficult to culture, for example, HIV in monocytes or lymphocytes of neonates. In this aspect the present invention comprises the steps of (1) exposing under infective conditions a PKR-deficient or a 2-5A synthetase-deficient cell culture to a sample suspected of containing a virus and (2) assaying for the presence of replicated virus in the exposed cells. The practice of this aspect of the present invention is similar to that of the previous aspect except that treatment with antiviral compound is omitted. In this aspect, the sample to be assayed for the presence of virus is generally a clinical sample from a patient suspected of having a viral-infection. The sample may be any appropriate clinical sample including blood, saliva, urine, as well as biopsy samples from lymph node, lung, intestine, liver, kidney and brain tissue. The sample may be treated appropriately to release viral particles (for example, cell extracts may be prepared) or the sample may be used as received from the patient. The sample or an aliquot of the sample is exposed under infective conditions to a deficient indicator cell culture and the presence of any replicating virus is determined as described above.

 

Claim 1 of 32 Claims

1. A method for the production of a viral particle, comprising: culturing a cell in the presence of a donor virus or a sample suspected of containing a virus, said culturing being under conditions suitable for efficient viral replication, said cell having a targeted deletion in at least one of a protein kinase RNA-dependent (PKR) gene, a 2'-5'-linked oligoadenylate (2-5A) synthetase gene, or an Mx gene, wherein said cell has increased permissiveness to viral replication due to said targeted deletion; and harvesting the viral particles produced.

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