Infectivity and propagation of attenuated infectious bursal disease virus in the chicken B-lymphocyte cell line DT40

In this paper, the infectivity and propagation of two attenuated infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) strains in DT40 cells were investigated. The results showed that both of the tested strains, TAD and HN3, directly infect and proliferate in DT40 cells, requiring no adaptive passages. Unexpectedly, IBDV can be rapidly propagated and continuously harvested at high titers for a long time, accompanied by the rapid growth of host cells and showing no increase in pathogenicity. Our results provide further support to suggest that DT40 cells can be used as an ideal model for studying IBDV pathogenesis. Additionally, the DT40 cell line could also serve as a potential system for commercial IBDV vaccine preparation.