Production of reovirus type-1 and type-3 from Vero cells grown on solid and macroporous microcarriers

Two strains of reovirus were propagated in Vero cells grown in stationary or microcarriers cultures. Vero cells grown as monolayers on T‐flasks or in spinner cultures of Cytodex‐1 or Cultispher‐G microcarriers could be infected with reovirus serotype 1, strain Lang (T1L), and serotype 3, strain Dearing (T3D). A regime of intermittent low speed stirring at reduced culture volume was critical to ensure viral infection of cells in microcarrier cultures. The virus titre increased by 3 to 4 orders of magnitude over a culture period of 150 h. Titres of the T3D reovirus strain were higher (43%) compared to those of the T1L strain in all cultures. Titres were significantly higher in T‐flask and Cytodex‐1 microcarrier cultures compared to Cultispher‐G cultures with respect to either reovirus type. The viral productivity in the microcarrier cultures was dependent upon the multiplicity of infection (MOI) and the cell/bead ratio at the point of infection. A combination of high MOI (5 pfu/cell) and high cell/bead loading (>400 for Cytodex‐1 and >1,000 for Cultispher‐G) resulted in a low virus productivity per cell. However, at low MOI (0.5 pfu/cell) the virus productivity per cell was significantly higher at high cell/bead loading in cultures of either microcarrier type. The maximum virus titre (8.5 × 109 pfu/mL) was obtained in Cytodex‐1 cultures with a low MOI (0.5 pfu/cell) and a cell/bead loading of 1,000. The virus productivity per cell in these cultures was 4,000 pfu/cell. The lower viral yield in the Cultispher‐G microcarrier cultures is attributed to a decreased accessibility of the entrapped cells to viral infection. The high viral productivity from the Vero cells in Cytodex‐1 cultures suggests that this is a suitable system for the development of a vaccine production system for the Reoviridae viruses. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Biotechnol Bioeng 62: 12–19, 1999.