Modified vaccinia virus Ankara multiplies in rat IEC-6 cells and limited production of mature virions occurs in other mammalian cell lines

1 Department of Microbiology and Virology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tromsø, N-9037 Tromsø, Norway 2 Department of Medical Genetics, University Hospital of North Norway, N-9038 Tromsø, Norway 3 GENOK-Norwegian Institute of Gene Ecology, Tromsø Science Park, N-9294 Tromsø, Norway Correspondence Terje Traavik terjet{at}genok.org Recombinant viruses based on modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) are vaccine candidates against infectious diseases and cancers. Presently, multiplication of MVA has been demonstrated in chicken embryo fibroblast and baby hamster kidney (BHK-21) cells only. The multiplication and morphogenesis of a recombinant (MVA-HANP) and non-recombinant MVA strain in BHK-21 and 12 other mammalian cell lines have now been compared. Rat IEC-6 cells were fully permissive to MVA infection. The virus yield in IEC-6 cells was similar to that obtained in BHK-21 cells at low as well as high multiplicities of infection. Vero cells were semi-permissive to MVA infection. Mature virions were produced in supposedly non-permissive cell lines. The multiplication and morphogenesis of non-recombinant MVA and MVA-HANP were similar. These results are relevant to the production and biosafety of MVA-vectored vaccines. Supplementary figures are available in JGV Online.