Abstract
Background: During the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic caused by the emerging virus SARS-CoV-2, research in the field of coronaviruses has expanded tremendously. The genome of SARS-CoV-2 has rapidly acquired numerous mutations, giving rise to several Variants of Concern (VOCs) with altered epidemiological, immunological, and pathogenic properties.
Methods: As cell culture models are important tools to study viruses, we investigated replication kinetics and infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 in the African Green Monkey-derived Vero E6 kidney cell line and the two human cell lines Caco-2, a colon epithelial carcinoma cell line, and the airway epithelial carcinoma cell line Calu-3. We assessed viral RNA copy numbers and infectivity of viral particles in cell culture supernatants at different time points ranging from 2 to 96 h post-infection.
Results: We here describe a systematic comparison of growth kinetics of the five SARS-CoV-2 VOCs Alpha/B.1.1.7, Beta/B.1.351, Gamma/P.1, Delta/B.1.617.2, and Omicron/B.1.1.529 and a non-VOC/B.1.1 strain on three different cell lines to provide profound information on the differential behaviour of VOCs in different cell lines for researchers worldwide. We show distinct differences in viral replication kinetics of the SARS-CoV-2 non-VOC and five VOCs on the three cell culture models Vero E6, Caco-2, and Calu-3.
Conclusion: This is the first systematic comparison of all SARS-CoV-2 VOCs on three different cell culture models. This data provides support for researchers worldwide in their experimental design for work on SARS-CoV-2. It is recommended to perform virus isolation and propagation on Vero E6 while infection studies or drug screening and antibody-based assays should rather be conducted on the human cell lines Caco-2 and Calu-3.
Keywords: Caco-2; Calu-3; Cell culture; Kinetics; Omicron; SARS-CoV-2; VOC.
【저자키워드】 SARS-CoV-2, omicron, Kinetics, Cell culture, Calu-3, VOC., Caco-2, 【초록키워드】 viruses, coronavirus, pandemic, antibody, VoC, Genome, mutations, Infection, B.1.617.2, Drug screening, omicron, virus, airway, kidney, Kinetics, virus isolation, African, Cell culture, VOCs, Research, Alpha, Beta, epidemiological, Viral RNA, concern, information, epithelial, Calu-3, human cell lines, cell lines, Viral particles, Vero, Propagation, Caco-2, Vero E6, Support, Post-infection, Colon, growth, different time points, replication kinetics, viral replication kinetics, pathogenic, several variants, Calu, green, cell line, viral particle, cell culture supernatants, researcher, cell culture supernatant, experimental design, FIVE, immunological, caused, investigated, conducted, provide, in viral, different time point, human cell line, the SARS-CoV-2, 【제목키워드】 SARS-CoV-2 variant,