Cell culture based production of avian influenza vaccines

Vaccination of poultry can be used as a tool to control outbreaks of avian influenza, including that of highly pathogenic H5 and H7 strains. Influenza vaccines are traditionally produced in embryonated chicken eggs. Continuous cell lines have been suggested as an alternative substrate to produce influenza vaccines, as they are more robust and lack the long lead times associated with the production of large quantities of embryonated eggs. In the study that is described in this thesis, the production of influenza virus in cell culture was explored. Therefore, several cell lines were assessed for their ability to propagate influenza virus. Furthermore, adaptations to both cell line and seed virus were suggested that increased virus yield, thereby allowing the production of attenuated influenza virus strains.