Professor Kawaoka and his colleagues in the field of virus infection at the Institute of Medical Science, the University of Tokyo have developed a cultured cell line that can be efficiently isolated and cultured without mutating the seasonal influenza virus.
The winter influenza virus, especially the A / H3N2 virus, changes its properties frequently and can sometimes cause a large-scale epidemic.
Isolation culture using MDCK cells derived from canine kidney is generally used for analysis of changes in the properties of influenza virus, but when seasonal viruses are isolated and cultured in the same cells, there is a problem that mutations occur and the properties change. was there.For accurate property analysis, a cultured cell line that can efficiently isolate and culture seasonal virus epidemic strains without mutation is required.Therefore, this research group created hCK cells in which the gene of MDCK cells was modified.
In hCK cells, the expression level of the avian receptor to which the avian influenza virus binds is significantly lower than that in the MDCK cell, but the expression of the human receptor to which the human influenza virus binds is large.Therefore, when the susceptibility of hCK cells to seasonal virus infection was investigated, the isolation and proliferation efficiency when the A / H3N2 epidemic strain was isolated and cultured using hCK cells was significantly higher than that of MDCK.Furthermore, it was found that almost no mutation was observed in the A / H3N2 virus isolated in hCK cells, and that no mutation was found even when the A / H3N2 epidemic strain was passaged in hCK cells for a long period of time.
By using seasonal virus isolated and cultured in hCK cells, it is possible to accurately analyze its antigenic properties and susceptibility to anti-influenza drugs, contributing to the prevention of the spread of seasonal influenza and the prevention of its onset and aggravation. You can expect it.In addition, by using hCK cells for vaccine production, it will be possible to efficiently produce cultured cell vaccines that are expected to be highly effective.
Paper information:[Nature Microbiology] A humanized MDCK cell line for the efficient isolation and propagation of human influenza viruses
