Immunogenicity and safety of BERNA-YF compared with two other 17D yellow fever vaccines in a phase 3 clinical trial.

BERNA-YF (Flavimun) is a live, attenuated yellow fever (YF) vaccine of the 17D strain produced by Berna Biotech Ltd. following a transfer of technology from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in Berlin, Germany. In this phase 3 bridging study, the immunogenicity and safety of BERNA-YF were compared with the original RKI YF vaccine (RKI-YF) and to a current, commercially available YF vaccine, Stamaril (AP-YF; Aventis Pasteur, Lyon, France), in 304 healthy, adult volunteers.

Development of viremia and humoral and cellular parameters of immune activation after vaccination with yellow fever virus strain 17D: a model of human flavivirus infection.

To monitor early and late events of immune system activation after primary and secondary flavivirus infection, 17 healthy persons were vaccinated with the standard 17D vaccine virus strain of yellow fever (YF). Twelve of these persons had not received YF vaccine previously and 5 had been vaccinated once at least 10 years before. Viremia and various parameters of humoral and cellular immune activation were followed daily for 7 days and weekly thereafter.

Laboratory scale production of monoclonal antibodies in a tumbling chamber.

A simple device for laboratory scale production of monoclonal antibodies has been developed. Hybridomas were cultured in four individual dialysis tubes containing 40-50 ml medium with 10% foetal calf serum, surrounded by 1.5-2 litres supply medium without any serum supplement.