A decrease in Sendai virus infection potency by interactions with cationic thermo-responsive polymers

Three types of synthetic cationic polymers were incubated with Sendai virus (HVJ), and virus infection of Rhesus monkey kidney cells, LLCMK2, was measured by the plaque assay method. One composition poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-N,N-dimethylaminopropyl acrylamide-co-butylmethacrylate) of (P(IP-27DA-16BM)) showed substantial decreases in the infection potency of the virus over a wide range of polymer concentrations. This polymer expressed a significant virus titer decrease even at a very low concentration (2 x 10(-4) wt%), and its virus titer reduction was found to be incubation temperature-dependent. As the virus was incubated with this polymer above the phase transition temperature of this polymer over a long period, the virus titer reduction was larger. Selectivity to the virus titer reduction in comparison with cytotoxicity to LLCMK2 cells was evaluated. This P(IP-27DA-16BM) polymer was revealed to possess a higher selectivity to virus reduction than sodium dodecyl sulfate. This indicates the feasibility of this polymer for a virus-specific inactivating agent.