HCoV-OC43 rarely shows a cytopathic effect (CPE) in infected cell lines, and thus the plaque and TCID 50 assays by CPE observation are not applicable for titration; the indirect immunoperoxidase assay (IPA) is used instead. However, the IPA is relatively complex, time-consuming, costly, and not suitable for simultaneous titration of many samples. ABSTRACT Human coronavirus (HCoV)-OC43 rarely shows a cytopathic effect (CPE) after infection of various cell lines, and the indirect immunoperoxidase assay (IPA), a relatively complex procedure, has long been used as an alternative assay. Because HCoV-OC43 uses cell-surface transmembrane protease serine 2 (TMPRSS2) for cell entry, VeroE6 cells expressing TMPRSS2 may show a clear CPE after HCoV-OC43 infection. The aim of this study was to construct a 50% tissue culture infectious dose (TCID 50 ) assay for HCoV-OC43 based on CPE evaluation using VeroE6/TMPRSS2 cells. VeroE6/TMPRSS2 cells showed clear CPEs 3 to 4 days after low-titer HCoV-OC43 infection. Evaluation of viral kinetics indicated that the viral titer in the culture supernatant of VeroE6/TMPRSS2 cells in the early stages of infection was higher than that of other cells. In comparison, between the CPE-based and the IPA-based (i.e., the reference titer) methods, the titer measured with CPE evaluation 4 to 5 days after infection using VeroE6/TMPRSS2 cells showed a much smaller difference from the reference titer than that measured using other cells. Thus, the TCID 50 assay using CPE evaluation with VeroE6/TMPRSS2 cells provides the correct titer value and will greatly contribute to future research on HCoV-OC43. IMPORTANCE HCoV-OC43 rarely shows a cytopathic effect (CPE) in infected cell lines, and thus the plaque and TCID 50 assays by CPE observation are not applicable for titration; the indirect immunoperoxidase assay (IPA) is used instead. However, the IPA is relatively complex, time-consuming, costly, and not suitable for simultaneous titration of many samples. We developed a TCID 50 assay using CPE evaluation with TMPRSS2-expressing VeroE6/TMPRSS2 cells that provides the same accuracy as the conventional IPA-based viral titration and does not require any staining procedures using antibodies or substrates. This titration method will greatly contribute to future research on HCoV-OC43 by allowing simple, low-cost, and accurate titration of this virus.
【저자키워드】 HCoV-OC43, Cytopathic effect, titration, 50% tissue culture infectious dose assay, human coronavirus, TMPRSS2, 【초록키워드】 coronavirus, antibody, Human, Infection, protease, virus, Culture, Accuracy, cells, Research, viral kinetics, early stage, CPE, cell lines, infectious dose, observation, tissue, complex, cell entry, culture supernatant, transmembrane, staining, substrates, infected cell, TCID, viral titer, serine 2, IPA, Cell, indicated, provide, contribute, costly, expressing, time-consuming, immunoperoxidase, VeroE6 cell,