Avian cell line - Technology for large scale vaccine production

The establishment of an immortalized continuous cell line derived from quail cells was undertaken by Baxter in order to develop a new cell line platform for vaccine production that is free of genetically modifying sequences. Important vaccines and viral vectors are still produced in embryonated chicken eggs or primary chicken embryo fibroblasts. However, the substitution of primary cells by a continuous cell line has several advantages. Although primary avian tissue for virus replication is provided by specific pathogen-free (SPF) production plants, sterility during vaccine production on embryonated eggs is difficult to guarantee, and the constant risk of contamination necessitates the addition of antibiotics. In addition, the supply of embryonated SPF eggs could be a limiting factor in vaccine production if increased amounts are demanded by the vaccine manufacturers, e. g. in case of a pandemic outbreak. The same is true for approaches where primary fibroblast monolayer cultures are used. Thus, avian cell lines have become a modern option for vaccine manufacturing and will definitely replace egg and primary fibroblast technology.