Use of Single-Cycle Infectious Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis Virus To Study Hemorrhagic Fever Arenaviruses

Several arenaviruses, chiefly Lassa virus (LASV) and Junin virus in West Africa and Argentina, respectively, cause hemorrhagic fever (HF) disease in humans that is associated with high morbidity and significant mortality. The investigation of antiviral strategies to combat HF arenaviruses is hampered by the requirement of biosafety level 4 (BSL-4) facilities to work with these viruses. These biosafety hurdles could be overcome by the use of recombinant single-cycle infectious arenaviruses. To explore this concept, we have developed a recombinant lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) (rLCMV Delta GP/GFP) where we replaced the viral glycoprotein (GP) with the green fluorescent protein (GFP). We generated high titers of GP-pseudotyped rLCMV Delta GP/GFP via genetic trans complementation using stable cell lines that constitutively express LCMV or LASV GPs. Replication of these GP-pseudotyped rLCMV Delta GP/GFP viruses was restricted to GP-expressing cell lines. This system allowed us to rapidly and reliably characterize and quantify the neutralization activities of serum antibodies against LCMV and LASV within a BSL-2 facility. The sensitivity of the GFP-based microneutralization assay we developed was similar to that obtained with a conventionally used focus reduction neutralization (FRNT) assay. Using GP-pseudotyped rLCMV Delta GP/GFP, we have also obtained evidence supporting the feasibility of this approach to identify and evaluate candidate antiviral drugs against HF arenaviruses without the need of BSL-4 laboratories.