Following these first experiences with animal cell cultures, viruses were cultivated in human cells, either directly in primary cell cultures or in immortalised (continuously growing) cell lines. Vaccine development shifted into a higher gear after 1949 when John Enders, Thomas Weller and Frederick Robbins demonstrated the ability of poliomyelitis viruses to grow in cultures of various types of tissue. For making this fundamental discovery these three scientists were honoured with the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1954. This technology provided a relatively easy and safe way to grow viruses in monolayer cell cultures and paved the way to a polio vaccine. Discovery

of viruses as infectious Selleck Selumetinib agents In 1884, the Chamberland–Pasteur filter was invented. It had pores smaller than bacteria, so it was possible to completely remove bacteria through the filter. In 1892, a new class of non-filterable infectious agents was discovered: the viruses. Due to their small size, viruses were not visible

using conventional microscopes, and it was not until 1931, with the application of an electron microscope, that the first images of viruses were obtained. In the early 20th century, the differences between viruses and bacteria began to emerge. The main obstacle encountered in studying viruses was the fact that they only multiply within living cells. In the 1950s and early 1960s there was intensive research to develop safe and effective polio GSK-3 assay vaccines. Jonas Salk focused on the development of a formaldehyde inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) with a virus grown in cell culture systems. The testing of the trivalent IPV began in 1952, results of the field trial were reported in 1955, and the vaccine was licensed in the USA in the same year. However, in 1955, during a rush to develop Nitroxoline sufficient vaccine for widespread use, manufacturing failures resulted in inadequate formalin inactivation of the virus, causing many cases of active disease and death (a disaster now known as the ‘Cutter incident’). As a result of this tragedy more rigorous safety testing for vaccines was implemented.

In parallel with the IPV development, Albert Sabin was working on a live, attenuated poliovirus vaccine (oral polio vaccine, OPV), which was licensed in the USA in 1963 and replaced IPV in many countries due to ease of oral administration, efficacy in inducing herd immunity and lower cost. Until the 1990s, OPV was the primary vaccine recommended in the USA and most of Europe. However, with the disappearance of polio in these and other regions, concerns about the rare occurrence of reversion to virulence and release of live virulent vaccine-strain virus into the environment led to the reassessment of the OPV benefit–risk profile. This resulted in the introduction of a new high-potency IPV in many countries where polio has already been eliminated.