title: Fetal bovine serum inhibits hepatitis C virus attachment to host cells.
abstract: Fetal bovine serum (FBS), used normally as a basic cell culture supplement, inhibits influenza virus growth. However, the role of FBS in the regulation of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has not been studied extensively and remains largely unclear. We adopted the established cell-cultured HCV (HCVcc) isolated from the JFH-1 strain and two sets of solutions (cDMEM7.4 and cDMEM6.8; RHMNB6.8 and RHMN6.8) to investigate the effect of FBS on HCV infection. Our data indicate that FBS blocks HCV infection in a dose-dependent manner. The infectivity of HCV diluted in the RHMNB solution was more susceptible to the addition of FBS than that diluted in the cDMEM solution. In addition, FBS-mediated blocking of HCV infection occurred at the step of virus attachment to the target cells, suggesting that FBS contains factors that interfere with the early steps in HCV infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Medical Biodefense, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 200433, China.
authors.forename: Zhao-ling
authors.initials: ZL
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.forename: He-peng
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Ju
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Ting-ting
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Wen-bo
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Laure
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Aurelian
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Zhong-tian
authors.initials: ZT
authors.lastname: Qi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000378:metabolism*; D002417:Cattle; D002460:Cell Line; D003470:Culture Media / Q000737:chemistry; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D044967:Serum / Q000378:metabolism*; D053585:Virus Attachment / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D003470:Culture Media
keywords: Attachment; Binding; Cell culture; Fetal bovine serum; Hepatitis C virus; Infection