Process For Scale-Up Of Adherent Vero Cells From Static Cell Factories To Influenza Production

In cell culture-based vaccine production, scale-up of adherent cells is challenging. This study shows a process for scaling up adherent Vero cells from static cell factories to influenza production at 50 L scale using WAVE Bioreactor™ systems and ReadyToProcess single-use equipment.

Vero cells were grown to high cell density on Cytodex microcarriers in 10 L working volume. The cells were detached with trypsin and used to seed a 50 L production culture with the same microcarrier concentration. The cells were allowed to reattach and grow on the new microcarriers in a larger Cellbag™ bioreactor chamber. Cells were subsequently infected with influenza virus. The results show a repeatable scaleup procedure. The cell growth was similar in the 10 L seed cultures as in the 50 L production cultures in three consecutive experiments, with an obtained hemagglutinin (HA) concentration of approximately 12 μg/mL and a virus titer of 109 virus particles/mL.