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Updated: Nov 1, 2025

Production of a SARS-CoV-2 Virus-Like-Particle System to Investigate Viral Life Cycles In Vitro
Published on: June 6, 2025
A cautionary perspective regarding the isolation and serial propagation of SARS-CoV-2 in Vero cells
Simon G P Funnell1,2,3, Babak Afrough1, John James Baczenas4
1PHE Porton Down, National Infection Service, Public Health England, Salisbury, Wiltshire, UK.
Abstract:
An array of SARS-CoV-2 virus variants have been isolated, propagated and used in in vitro assays, in vivo animal studies and human clinical trials. Observations of working stocks of SARS-CoV-2 suggest that sequential propagation in Vero cells leads to critical changes in the region of the furin cleavage site, which significantly reduce the value of the working stock for critical research studies. Serially propagating SARS-CoV-2 in Vero E6 cells leads to rapid increases in genetic variants while propagation in other cell lines (e.g. Vero/hSLAM) appears to mitigate this risk thereby improving the overall genetic stability of working stocks. From these observations, investigators are urged to monitor genetic variants carefully when propagating SARS-CoV-2 in Vero cells.
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