A couple of people called me crazy last year when I told them that some H1N1 vaccines may be grown in insect cells as opposed to being grown in chicken eggs. I guess I will no longer be crazy in their eyes - at least until the next alleged conspiracy theory appears and needs to be proven to be true.
Don't forget that the vaccines have also been grown in canine kidney cells and human retina cells.
Source: Science Daily
Scientists in Vienna have developed a new technique for producing vaccines for H1N1 -- so-called swine flu -- based on insect cells. The research, published in the Biotechnology Journal, reveals how influenza vaccines can be produced faster than through the traditional method of egg-based production, revealing a new strategy for the fight against influenza pandemics.
"Recent outbreaks of influenza highlight the importance of a rapid and sufficient vaccine supply for pandemic and inter pandemic strains," said co-author Florian Krammer from the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Science in Vienna. "However, classical manufacturing methods for vaccines fail to satisfy this demand."
Traditional influenza vaccines, which are produced in embryonated chicken eggs, can be manufactured in the quantities needed for seasonal strains of influenza. Yet because of limited egg supply this method may be insufficient in a pandemic scenario, such as the current H1N1 'swine flu' pandemic.
The team's new method turns to insect cell based technology to create recombinant influenza virus-like particles (VLPs), which resemble virus particles but lack the viral nucleic acid, so they are not infectious.
The Austrian team took just ten weeks to produce swine-origin pandemic H1N1 influenza VLPs for immunological study in mice. This shows that production of a mock-up vaccine is feasible in this time range, outcompeting conventional production methods which take months.
Using insect cells also bypasses the disadvantages of egg-based production, such as limited production capacity, allergic reactions to egg proteins and biosafety issues.
Don't forget that the vaccines have also been grown in canine kidney cells and human retina cells.
Source: Science Daily
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