Two strains of reovirus (serotype 1 Lang/TIL and serotype 3 Dearing/T3D) we
re propagated in Vero cells grown in stationary or agitated cultures in a s
erum-free medium, M-VSFM. Solid microcarriers (Cytodex-1) were used to supp
ort cell growth in agitated cultures with a normal doubling time of 25 h. C
ell yields of 1 x 10(6) cells/mL were obtained from an inoculum of 2 x 10(5
) cells/mL in 4 days in microcarrier cultures. The growth profile and cell
yield was not significantly different from serum-supplemented cultures. The
virus titer increased by 3-4 orders of magnitude over a culture period of
150 h. The maximum virus titer in stationary cultures reached >1 x 10(9) pf
u/mL for both strains of reovirus in M-VSFM. M-VSFM also supported high vir
al yields in microcarrier cultures. Both the specific productivity and fina
l viral yield was higher in M-VSFM than serum-supplemented cultures. The hi
gh viral productivity suggests that this is a suitable system for the produ
ction of reovirus as an oncolytic agent for human therapeutic use.