Comparative characterization of flavivirus production in two cell lines: Human hepatoma-derived Huh7.5.1-8 and African green monkey kidney-derived Vero

The Flaviviridae is a family of enveloped viruses with a positive-sense single-stranded RNA genome. It contains many viruses that threaten human health, such as Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) and yellow fever virus (YFV) of the genus Flavivirus as well as hepatitis C virus of the genus Hepacivirus. Cell culture systems highly permissive for the Flaviviridae viruses are very useful for their isolation, propagation, and diagnosis, an understanding of their biology, and the development of vaccines and antiviral agents. Previously, we isolated a human hepatoma HuH-7-derived cell clone, Huh7.5.1–8, which is highly permissive to hepatitis C virus infection. Here, we have characterized flavivirus infection in the Huh7.5.1–8 cell line by comparing with that in the African green monkey kidney-derived Vero cell line, which is permissive for a wide spectrum of viruses. Upon infection with JEV, Huh7.5.1–8 cells produced a higher amount of virus particles early in infection and were more susceptible to virus-induced cell death than Vero cells. Similar outcomes were obtained when the cells were infected with another flavivirus, YFV (17D-204 strain). Quantification of cellular and extracellular viral RNA revealed that high JEV production in Huh7.5.1–8 cells can be attributed to rapid viral replication kinetics and efficient virus release early in infection. In a plaque assay, Huh7.5.1–8 cells developed JEV plaques more rapidly than Vero cells. Although this was not the case with YFV plaques, Huh7.5.1–8 cells developed higher numbers of YFV plaques than Vero cells. Sequence analysis of cDNA encoding an antiviral RNA helicase, RIG-I, showed that Huh7.5.1–8 cells expressed not only a full-length RIG-I mRNA with a known dominant-negative missense mutation but also variants without the mutation. However, the latter mRNAs lacked exon 5/6−12, indicating functional loss of RIG-I in the cells. These characteristics of the Huh7.5.1–8 cell line are helpful for flavivirus detection, titration, and propagation.