Cold Atmospheric Plasma Boosts Virus Multiplication via EGFR(Tyr1068) Phosphorylation-Mediated Control on Cell Mitophagy.

Vaccination still remains as the most effective approach for preventing infectious diseases such as those caused by virus infection, with cell-based vaccine manufacturing being one flexible solution regarding the spectrum of infectious disorders it can prevent. Rapid cell-based virus propagation can enable high yield of vaccines against viral diseases that may offer critical values in the industry when handling emergent situations such as the ongoing viral disease pandemic. Through investigating the phenomenon and biological mechanism underlying redox-triggered cell survival towards enhanced viral particle production, this study explores novel strategies for improved yield of viral particles at a reduced cost to meet the increasing demand on cell-based vaccine manufacturing against viral diseases. We found in this study that cold atmospheric plasma (CAP), composed of multiple reactive oxygen and nitrogen species including HO, could effectively enhance virus replication via triggering cell mitophagy that was dynamically modulated by the p-EGFR(Tyr1068)/p-Drp1(Ser616) axis using IBRV and MDBK as the virus and cell models, respectively; and removing HO can further enhance virus yield via releasing cells from excessive G/G cell cycle arrest. The observed efficacy of CAP was extended to other viruses such as CDV and CPV. This study provides experimental evidences supporting the use of CAP as a modulator of cell survival including mitophagy and mitochondria dynamics, and makes CAP an interesting and promising tool for enhancing the yield of viral vaccines if translated into the industry.