Cell substrates, their use in the production of vaccines and other biologicals

This volume stems from a symposium sponsored by the W. Alton Jones Cell Science Center Symposium: Cell Substrates and Their Use in the Production of Vaccines and Other Biologicals was held October 23-26, 1978. During the past 20 years there have been numerous national and international conferences on the topic of cell cultures used to produce biological products. Those largely dealt with the technology and associated issues that were current at the time of the meetings. For example, as human diploid cells were developed and proposed for the use in vaccine production, a number of meetings were held to examine the pros and cons of human dipoid cells. A large amount of data was provided at those conferences which formed the basis for the ventual acceptance of that cell system. Each meeting added to the gereral base of knowledge in the area of cell cultures and their application to the current and novel set of problems encountered. In general, the participants reaffirmed the basic premises that were formaulated in the early days of polio virus vaccine production regarding the criteria for accptability of cells when used in the manufacture of biologics intended for humans. The present symposium follows the tradition of its predecessors in that we have included presentations related to current technology and to new biological products which can be produced in cell culture systems. We were concerned not only with practical aspects of cell substrates and production of biological but also with the philsophical and ethical considerations in the types of substrates used the manner in which they are used. The use of plant cells for the production of drugs, flavors, enzymes and colorings was one majory omission from the program. Because this is an area which is developming rapidly and its potential is immense, we asked a leading expert in this field, Dr. Donald K. Dougall, to contribute a paper to this volume. A unique feature of this symposium is a re-examination of some of the traditional concepts that have formed the basis for cell culture use in the production of biologicals up to the present time. The emergence of new experimental products such as interferon produced in lymphoblastoid cells has led us to re-examine some of the old dogmas concerning cell accetability. As in any area of science, such reassessments can only be viewed as positive elements in the growth and development of the discipline. In conjunction with this syposium, a meeting of the ad hoc Karyology Committee was held to review and revise the current recommendations for cytogenetic monitoring of human cell cultures used to produce biological products The meeting took place immediately after the Symposium and many of the points discussed during the preceedings because of the direct relationship of karyology to the topics of this symposium, and because many of the symposium participants also attended the Committee meetings and helped to formulate the new recommendations.