Dubois D R, Binn L N, Summers P L, Timchak R L, Barvir D A, Marchwicki R H, Eckels K H
Division of Communicable Disease and Immunology, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington, DC 20307-5100.
J Virol Methods. 1990 Jun;28(3):299-304. doi: 10.1016/0166-0934(90)90123-w.
Hepatitis A virus (HAV) harvested from infected MRC-5 cells can hemagglutinate various species of erythrocytes at acid pH (Eckels et al., 1989). Further studies revealed that the majority of the hemagglutinin (HA) in MRC-5 and BS-C-1 cells was cell-associated. A simplified procedure for preparing HAV-HA consisted of collecting infected cells in phosphate-buffered saline followed by three cycles of freeze-thawing and sonication. The fluids were clarified and stored at 4 degrees C. The analysis of HA by rate-zonal sucrose gradient centrifugation indicated that the majority of HA co-migrated with infectious virus. Complete inactivation of infectious HAV with 0.03% beta-propiolactone (BPL) did not affect HA activity, while inactivation with 0.05% formalin caused a 16-fold reduction in titer. There was no difference in HAI antibody titers when BPL-treated HA was compared to untreated HA in the hemagglutination inhibition (HAI) test.
