Animal protein-free media for cultivation of cells

Abstract

The present invention relates to animal protein-free cell culture media comprising polyamines and a plant- and/or yeast-derived hydrolysate. The invention also relates to animal protein-free culturing processes, wherein cells can be cultivated, propagated and passaged without adding supplementary animal proteins in the culture medium. These processes are useful in cultivating cells, such as recombinant cells or cells infected with a virus, and for producing biological products by cell culture processes.

1 . A method for producing a virus, comprising the steps of: 
 (a) providing a culture of cells that have been grown in an animal protein-free cell culture medium comprising at least one polyamine and at least one protein hydrolysate derived from the group consisting of plants and yeast, and    (b) infecting the cells with the virus;    (c) selecting the virus-infected cells; and    (d) incubating the cells to propagate the virus.    
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the cells are selected from the group consisting of mammalian cells, insect cells, avian cells, bacterial cells, and yeast cells.  
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the cell/virus combination is selected from the group consisting of Vero cell/attenuated vaccinia, Vero cell/vaccinia, Vero cell/hepatitis A, Vero cell/influenza virus, Vero cell/West Nile virus, Vero cell/SARS virus, and chicken embryo cells/FSME virus.  
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 1  wherein the cells are cultivated by a method selected from the group consisting of batch-cultivation, feed-batch-cultivation, perfusion cultivation, and chemostat-cultivation.