VSV rescue

1 . A method for rescue of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus (VSV) from DNA in a HEK293 cell line or a HEK293 cell line adapted to suspension growth comprising

(a) providing cells from a HEK293 cell line or a HEK293 cell line adapted to suspension growth in cell culture,

(b) transiently transfecting the cells with at least one plasmid, wherein the at least one plasmid comprises

(i) an expression cassette comprising a VSV genomic cDNA;

(ii) at least one expression cassette encoding VSV nucleoprotein (N) protein, VSV phosphoprotein (P) protein and VSV large (L) protein; and

(iii) an expression cassette encoding SV40 Large T antigen;

(c) culturing the transfected cells; and

(d) harvesting the cell culture supernatant comprising the rescued VSV 24 hours to 96 hours post transfection.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the harvested cell culture supernatant comprises infectious VSV.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein

(i) the cells are provided, transfected and cultured as adherent cells; and/or

(ii) transfecting the cells in step (b) comprises the use of a chemical-based transfection agent, preferably wherein the chemical-based transfection agent is selected from Lipofection, PEI or calcium phosphate.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the cells in step (b) are further transfected or transduced with a plasmid or a helper virus comprising an expression cassette encoding bacteriophage T7 RNA polymerase under the control of an RNA polymerase II-dependent promoter; and

wherein the expression cassette comprising the VSV genomic cDNA comprises the VSV genomic cDNA under the control of a T7 promoter and a T7 terminator sequence; and

optionally wherein the at least one expression cassette encoding VSV N protein, VSV P protein and VSV L protein comprises the VSV N, P and/or L protein under the control of a promoter and a terminator sequence.

5 . The method according to claim 4 , wherein the method is a helper-virus free method and wherein the cells in step (b) are transfected with the plasmid comprising an expression cassette encoding bacteriophage T7 RNA polymerase under the control of an RNA polymerase II-dependent promoter.

6 . The method according to claim 4 , wherein

(a) nucleotide sequence encoding the bacteriophage T7 RNA polymerase is codon-optimized; and/or

(b) the bacteriophage T7 RNA polymerase has the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 4 or has at least 95% sequence identity with the amino acid sequence or SEQ ID NO: 4.

7 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one expression cassette encoding the VSV P protein, VSV N protein and VSV L protein is transfected as one or more helper plasmids.

8 . The method according to claim 7 , wherein the one or more helper plasmid comprises

(i) a first helper plasmid comprising an expression cassette comprising a sequence encoding the VSV N protein under the control of a promoter and a terminator sequence;

(ii) a second helper plasmid comprising an expression cassette comprising a sequence encoding the VSV P protein under the control of a promoter and a terminator sequence; and

(iii) a third helper plasmid comprising an expression cassette comprising a sequence encoding the VSV L protein under the control of a promoter and a terminator sequence; and optionally

(iv) at least one further helper plasmid comprising an expression cassette comprising a sequence encoding the VSV glycoprotein (G) and/or an expression cassette comprising a sequence encoding the VSV matrix (M) protein.

9 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the expression cassette encoding the SV40 Large T antigen

(a) is transfected as a plasmid comprising said expression cassette encoding SV40 Large T antigen;

(b) comprises the nucleic acid sequence encoding the SV40 Large T antigen under the control of a promoter and further comprises a terminator sequence;

(c) comprises the nucleic acid sequence encoding the SV40 Large T antigen under the control of a promoter and further comprises a terminator sequence under the control of a strong RNA polymerase II-dependent promoter; and/or

(d) comprises a nucleic acid sequence encoding the SV40 large T antigen having an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 5 or having at least 95% sequence identity with the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 5.

10 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the HEK293 cell line or HEK293 cell line adapted to suspension growth is selected from the group consisting of HEK293, HEK293-F and HEK-293-H.

11 . The method according to claim 10 , wherein the HEK293 cell line or HEK293 cell line adapted to suspension growth is HEK293-F.

12 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the VSV genomic cDNA is a viral full-length genomic cDNA, a modified viral genomic cDNA, or a modified, full-length genomic cDNA.

13 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the VSV genomic cDNA is a modified viral genomic cDNA encoding a modified G protein.

14 . The method according to claim 13 , wherein the gene coding for the glycoprotein G in the VSV genomic cDNA is replaced by a gene coding for the glycoprotein GP of Lymphocyte choriomeningitis virus (LCMV).

15 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising

(e) transducing cells from a HEK293 cell line or a HEK293 cell line adapted to suspension growth in suspension with VSV obtained in step (d); and optionally

(f) producing VSV in the cells of step (e) in suspension culture at >50 L.

16 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the cells in part

(a) are from a HEK293 cell line adapted to suspension growth.

17 . The method according to claim 16 , wherein the cells from the HEK293 cell line adapted to suspension growth are selected from the group consisting of HEK293-F and HEK-293-H.

18 . The method according to claim 14 , wherein the gene coding for the glycoprotein G in the VSV genomic cDNA is replaced by a gene coding for the glycoprotein GP of Lymphocyte choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) that comprises an amino acid sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO:7 or a functional variant at least 80%, 81%, 82%, 83%, 84%, 85%, 86%, 87%, 88%, 89%, 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98% or 99% identical to SEQ ID NO:7.