Characterization of a Hepatitis A Virus Strain Suitable for Vaccine Production

A novel isolate of hepatitis A virus, obtained from a clinical sample, has been adapted to grow on cultured human diploid cells. Growth and purification parameters have been optimized to obtain conditions suitable for the development of an inactivated vaccine. The entire viral genome was molecularly cloned, and the gene encoding the VP3 capsid protein was expressed in Escherichia coli. The resulting recombinant VP3 was used to obtain rabbit antisera which recognize the denatured protein in purified virion preparations. Nucleotide sequencing data are presented and compared to known sequences of different strains.