• Journal of Life Science
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.729-733
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• 2006

Cryptosporidium is a waterborne pathogenic parasite which causes diarrhea. Immunomagnetic separation-immunofluorescent assay (IMS-IFA) has been a widely adopted for Cryptosporidium detection as standard method. However, this method does not provide information about viability or infectivity of Cryptosporidium. Therefore, many researchers have studied viability or infectivity analyses of Cryptosporidium with various methods such as vital staining, in vitro excystation, RT-PCR, cell culture, and mouse infection assay. In this study, two direct RT-PCR methods, cell culture RT-PCR and cell culture IFA were compared for sensitivity and other characteristics. The results showed that direct RT-PCR method with HSP70 genes had the highest sensitivity with detection up to 1 viable cell of Cryptosporidium. The infectious Cryptosporidium were detected up to 10 to 25 cells by cell culture methods in combination with RT-PCR and IFA. The infectious Cryptosporidium were apt to be quantified by cell culture IFA.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.198-204
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• 2002

Poliovirus is a member of enterovirus which causes paralytic poliomyelitis, encephalitis and aseptic meningitis. Since poliovirus is spread by the fecal-oral route and poliovirus-contaminated water could be a potential threat for public health, detection of poliovirus in drinking water resource is important. Infectious poliovirus and poliovirus inactivated by heat or UV were used to test three detection methods such as cell culture method, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and integrated cell culture (ICC)-PCR. Infectious poliovirus was detected by all three methods and ICC-PCR was the most sensitive and fast in detecting poliovirus. Inactivated polioviruses could not be detected by cell culture or ICC-PCR methods. On the other hand, heat- inactivated viruses could be detected by RT-PCR. Thus it is suggested that ICC-PCR method is the most sensitive and effective in detecting infectious polioviruses in water sample.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.339-347
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• 2012

Viral safety is an important prerequisite for clinical preparations of mammalian cell culture-derived biopharmaceuticals, because numerous adventitious viruses have been contaminated during the manufacturing process. In particular, Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells are highly susceptible to several RNA viruses including reovirus (Reo), bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV), and bovine parainfluenza virus (BPIV) and there have been reports of such viral contaminations. Therefore, viral detection during the CHO cell process is necessary to ensure the safety of biopharmaceuticals against viruses. In this study, a multiplex reverse transcription (RT)-PCR assay was developed and subsequently evaluated for its effectiveness as a means to simultaneously detect Reo, BVDV, and BPIV during the manufacture of cell culture-derived biopharmaceuticals. Specific primers for Reo, BVDV, and BPIV were selected, and a multiplex RT-PCR was optimized. The sensitivity of the assay for simultaneous amplification of all viral target RNAs was $7.76{\times}10^2\;TCID_{50}/ml$ for Reo, $7.44{\times}10^1\;TCID_{50}/ml$ for BVDV, and $6.75{\times}10^1\;TCID_{50}/ml$ for BPIV. The multiplex RT-PCR was proven to be very specific to Reo, BVDV, and BPIV and was subsequently applied to the validation of CHO cells artificially infected with each virus. It could detect each viral RNA from CHO cells as well as culture supernatants. Therefore, it was concluded that the multiplex RT-PCR assay can be applied to detection of the adventitious viruses during the manufacture of cell culture-derived biopharmaceuticals.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.100-108
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• 2011

A method for the rapid detection and quantification of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) produced in an animal cell culture-based production system was developed to enhance the speed of the NDV vaccine manufacturing process. A SYBR Green I-based real-time RT-PCR was designed with a conventional, inexpensive RT-PCR kit targeting the F gene of the NDV LaSota strain. The method developed in this study was validated for specificity, accuracy, precision, linearity, limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ), and robustness. The validation results satisfied the predetermined acceptance criteria. The validated method was used to quantify virus samples produced in an animal cell culture-based production system. The method was able to quantify the NDV samples from mid- or late-production phases, but not effective on samples from the early-production phase. For comparison with other quantifiable methods, immunoblotting, plaque assay, and tissue culture infectious dose 50 ($TCID_{50}$) assay were also performed with the NDV samples. The results demonstrated that the real-time RT-PCR method is suitable for the rapid quantification of virus particles produced in an animal cell-culture-based production system irrespective of viral infectivity.

• Proceedings of the Microbiological Society of Korea Conference
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.171-171
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• 2008

We monitored the occurrence of human enteric viruses in urban rivers by cell culture-PCR and RT-nested PCR. Water samples were collected monthly or semimonthly between May 2002 and March 2003 in four urban tributaries. Enteric viruses were detected by RT-nested PCR and cell culture-PCR based on a combination of Buffalo Green monkey kidney (BGMK) and A549 cell lines, followed by phylogenetic analysis of amplicons. By RT-nested PCR analysis, 45 (77.6%), 32 (55.2%), 32 (55.2%), 26 (44.8%), 12 (20.7%), 2 (3.4%), 4 (6.9%), and 4 (6.9%) of 58 samples showed positive results with adenoviruses, enteroviruses, noroviruses (NV) genogroup I (GI) and II (GII), reoviruses, hepatitis A viruses, rotaviruses and sapoviruses, respectively. Adenoviruses were most often detected and only eight (13.8%) samples were negative for adenoviruses and positive for other enteric viruses in the studied sites. Thirty-one (77.5%) of the 40 samples were positive for infectious adenoviruses and/or enteroviruses based on cell culture-PCR, and the frequency of positive samples grown on A549 and BGMK (65.0%) was higher than that grown on BGMK alone (47.5%). The occurrence of each enteric virus, except reoviruses and hepatitis A viruses was not statistically correlated with the water temperature and levels of fecal coliforms according to Binary logistic regression model. By sequence analysis, most strains of adenoviruses and enteroviruses detected in this study are similar to the causative agent of viral diseases in Korea and most NV GI- and GII-grouped strains were closely related to the reference strains from China and Japan, and GII/4-related strains had similar sequences to strains recognized as a worldwide epidemic outbreak. Our results suggested that monitoring human enteric viruses is necessary to improve microbial quality and cell culture-PCR using the combination of A549 and BGMK cells and the adenovirus detection by PCR could be useful for monitoring viral contamination in the aquatic environment.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.117-123
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare different elution and concentration methods for optimization of human rotavirus (HRV) detection method using real-time RT-PCR and cell culture techniques. The leafy vegetable samples (lettuce, Chinese cabbage) were artificially inoculated with HRV. Viruses were extracted from the vegetables by two different elution buffers, buffer A (100 mM Tris-HCl, 50 mM glycine, 3% beef extract, pH 9.5) and buffer B (250 mM Threonine, 300 mM NaCl, pH 9.5), and the extracted viruses were concentrated by filtration and PEG precipitation sequentially. To determine infectivity of the viruses, the viruses recovered from the samples were infected to the MA-104 cells, and integrated cell culture real-time RT-PCR was performed at 1, 48, 72, 96, 120, 144, 168 h post-infection (p.i.). The elution buffer A was more efficient in extracting the virus from the produce samples tested than the buffer B, 29.54% and 18.32% of recoveries, respectively. The sensitivity of real-time RT-PCR method was markedly improved when the virus was concentrated by the filtration method. When the viruses were eluted and concentrated by buffer A and filtration, respectively, the average recovery rate was approximately 51.89%. When the viruses recovered from samples were infected to MA-104 cell, infectious HRV was detected within 48 h p.i. by ICC/real-time RT-PCR, whereas cytopathic effects were not observed until 72 h p.i. The optimized detection method evaluated in this study could be useful for rapid and reliable detection of HRV in fresh produce products and applied for detection of other food-borne viruses.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.215-219
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• 2016

The problems of tuberculosis and its drug resistance are very severe. Therefore, rapid and accurate drug susceptibility assay is required. Recently, there has been an increased understanding of the genetic mechanism of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) drug resistance as well as advancement of molecular technologies. While many gene mutations correlate well with drug resistance, many genes do not show a strong correlation with drug resistance. For this reason, the current study assessed the utility of rpoB mRNA as a target to detect live mycobacteria. In this study, RT-PCR targeting of rpoB mRNA in BCG treated with rifampin was performed. Conventional RT-PCR and real-time PCR targeting rpoB mRNA as well as 85B mRNA was performed to determine whether these two methods could distinguish between viable and non-viable MTB. The levels of rpoB and 85B mRNA detected by RT- PCR were compared in parallel with colony forming unit counts of BCG that were treated with rifampin for different periods of time. The data suggests that that even though both mRNA levels of rpoB and 85B decreased gradually when rifampin-treatment increased, the rpoB mRNA seemed to represent live bacteria better than 85B mRNA. This study clearly indicates that RT-PCR is a good method to monitor viable cell counts in the liquid culture treated with the anti-tuberculosis drug.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.267-274
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• 2015

Biopharmaceuticals and the cell substrates used for their manufacture are currently tested for porcine adventitious viruses due to the widespread use of porcine trypsin in cell culture. Porcine transmissible gastroenteritis virus (PTGV) is one of the major adventitious porcine viruses causing contaminated during the manufacture of biopharmaceuticals. Therefore, rapid and sensitive detection of PTGV is essential in ensuring the safety of biopharmaceuticals. A TaqMan probe real-time RT-PCR method was developed for the quantitative detection of PTGV contamination in cell substrates, raw materials, manufacturing processes, and final products, as well as PTGV clearance validation. Specific primers for the amplification of PTGV RNA were selected, and PTGV RNA was quantified by use of a specific TaqMan probe. Specificity, limit of detection (LOD), and robustness of the method was validated according to international guidelines on the validation of nucleic acid amplification tests. The sensitivity of the assay was calculated to be 1.10 × 10⁰ TCID₅₀/ml. The real-time RT-PCR method was validated to be reproducible, very specific to PTGV, and robust. The established real-time RT-PCR assay was successfully applied to the validation of Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO)-K1 cells artificially infected with PTGV.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.103-109
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• 2009

Influeza type A virus have been worldwide problematic in animals as well as in humans. In this study, the use of reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was described for detecting influenza virus type A. The primer of RT-PCR was designed from an nonstructural (NS) gene of Influenza A virus. By RT-PCR, a product with the size of 189 bp was detected only when influenza virus type A was used as template. No products could be detected with Influenza virus type B as well as other respiratory pathogens. The detection limit of the RT-PCR was up to $10^{0.3}TCID_{50}$ which is comparable to the sensitivity of cell culture method. The RT-PCR could detect the influenza A virus from nasal turbinates of the ferrets infected with influenza virus type A not type B.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.34-42
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• 2008

Bovine blood, cell, tissue, and organ are used as raw materials for manufacturing biologics such as biopharmaceuticals, tissue engineered products, and cell therapy. Manufacturing processes for the biologics using bovine materials have the risk of viral contamination. Therefore viral validation is essential in ensuring the safety of the products. Bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV) is the most common bovine pathogen and has widely been known as a contaminant of biologics. In order to establish the validation system for the BVDV safety of biologics, a real-time RT-PCR method was developed for quantitative detection of BVDV contamination in raw materials, manufacturing processes, and final products. Specific primers for amplification of BVDV RNA was selected, and BVDV RNA was quantified by use of SYBR Green I. The sensitivity of the assay was calculated to be 1 $TCID_{50}/mL$. The rent-time RT-PCR method was validated to be reproducible and very specific to BVDV. The established real-time RT-PCR assay was successfully applied to the validation of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell artificially infected with BVDV. BVDV RNA could be quantified in CHO cell as well as culture supernatant. Also the real-time RT-PCR assay could detect $10TCID_{50}/mL$ of BVDV artificially contaminated in bovine collagen.