Hepatitis c virus cell propagation and related methods

摘要

The invention provides a composition comprising hepatitis C virus in cell culture supernatant medium at a titer of at least 10<4> genomes per milliliter of cell culture supernatant medium in the absence of components from primate serum or plasma as determined by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. The titer can also be from about 10<5> to about 10<6> genomes per milliliter of culture medium. A method for propagating hepatitis C virus in cell culture is also provided, comprising the steps of: (a) contacting a suitable uninfected cell culture with hepatitis C virus; (b) incubating the contacted cell culture in cell culture medium under conditions to permit infection of the culture cells by hepatitis C virus; and (c) propagating hepatitis C virus in the infected culture cells under conditions to produce a virus titer of at least 10<4> genomes per milliliter culture medium.