Thanks to a clever modification of the baculovirus, vaccines can now be produced in insect cells more easily and cleaner. Researchers at Wageningen University & Research (WUR) have successfully developed vaccine material without baculovirus contaminants. The method works for different types of vaccines and is compatible with existing production techniques. As a result, vaccines can now be made faster and more cheaply.
Vaccines protect us against dangerous viruses such as the West Nile virus and the tropical chikungunya virus. A widely used method to produce such vaccines is by using so-called virus-like particles, or VLPs. These particles resemble real viruses but contain no genetic material, therefore they cannot replicate. They are safe and still trigger a strong immune response. That is why VLPs are increasingly used in modern vaccines for both humans and animals. A well-known example is the vaccine against the human papillomavirus (HPV), a virus that can cause cervical cancer. A single dose of the vaccine offers long-term protection.
Contamination is a major issue
To produce VLPs, scientists often use insect cells combined with a baculovirus. This virus, which naturally occurs in insects, is used in the lab to instruct cells to produce specific proteins for vaccines. But thereās a problem: in addition to the desired VLPs, the cells also produce large quantities of baculovirus particles. These particles are so similar in size and shape to the VLPs that they are extremely difficult to remove from the final product.
This contamination has posed a significant challenge to researchers for years. It makes vaccine production more complex, expensive, and less reproducible. Purifying the VLPs takes time and money, and may affect the vaccineās quality.
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