Comparison ofβ-Propiolactone and Formalin Inactivation on Antigenicity and Immune Response of West Nile Virus

Abstract

West Nile Virus (WNV) is a pathogenic arbovirus that belongs to genus Flavivirus under family Flaviviridae. Till now there are no approved vaccines against WNV for human use. In this study, the effect of two alkylating agents, formaldehyde and β-PL, generally used for inactivated vaccine preparation, was assessed on the basis of antigenic and immunogenic potential of the inactivated WNV. Lineage 5 WNV isolates were inactivated by both formalin and β-PL treatments. Inactivation was confirmed by repeated passage in BHK-21 cell line and infant mice. Viruses inactivated by both the treatments showed higher antigenicity. Immune response in mice model showed serum anti-WNV antibody titre was moderately higher in formalin inactivated antigen compared to β-PL inactivated antigen. However, no significant differences were observed in neutralization antibody titre. In conclusion, we can state that both formaldehyde and β-PL inactivation processes were found to be equally efficient for inactivation of WNV. However, they need to be compared with other inactivating agents along with study on cell mediated immune response.

Immunogenicity and Safety of an Inactivated SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine: Preclinical Studies

“…Subsequent inactivation of the propagated virus in the current study using β-Propiolactone was selected as an approved inactivating agent because it has been widely used for the inactivation of several types of viruses [ 11 ]. In line with a previous study, β-Propiolactone is shown to keep the conformational structure of SARS-CoV-2 under electron microscope without any changes in viral configuration [ 12 ].…”

Propagation, Inactivation, and Safety Testing of SARS-CoV-2

“…Beta-propiolactone (BPL) is a commonly used reagent for the inactivation of viruses for use in vaccine preparations [11][12][13][14] and it has recently been used in the development of an inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine preparation [15]. Our results indicate that incubation of SARS-CoV-2 (1 × 10 6 pfu) in solution with 0.5% BPL for 16 h at 4C followed by a 2-h incubation at 37 • C results in complete inactivation of infectious SARS-CoV-2 ( Table 1).…”

Large scale production and characterization of SARS‐CoV‐2 whole antigen for serological test development

“…A virus inactivation protocol utilizing beta-propiolactone (BPL), a commonly used reagent for viral inactivation in vaccine preparations, [9][10][11][12] was adopted and optimized. After thawing, virus batches were inactivated with BPL (Natalex, Warsaw, Poland) and 0.1% [v/v] of BPL was added in 3 consecutive additions to ensure inactivation.…”