TY  - JOUR
A1  - Widera, Marek
A1  - Westhaus, Sandra
A1  - Rabenau, Holger
A1  - Hoehl, Sebastian
A1  - Bojkova, Denisa
A1  - Cinatl, Jindrich
A1  - Ciesek, Sandra
T1  - Evaluation of stability and inactivation methods of SARS-CoV-2 in context of laboratory settings
T2  - Medical microbiology and immunology
N2  - The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is the causative agent of the acute respiratory disease COVID-19, which has become a global concern due to its rapid spread. Laboratory work with SARS-CoV-2 in a laboratory setting was rated to biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) biocontainment level. However, certain research applications in particular in molecular biology require incomplete denaturation of the proteins, which might cause safety issues handling contaminated samples. In this study, we evaluated lysis buffers that are commonly used in molecular biological laboratories for their ability to inactivate SARS-CoV-2. In addition, viral stability in cell culture media at 4 °C and on display glass and plastic surfaces used in laboratory environment was analyzed. Furthermore, we evaluated chemical and non-chemical inactivation methods including heat inactivation, UV-C light, addition of ethanol, acetone-methanol, and PFA, which might be used as a subsequent inactivation step in the case of insufficient inactivation. We infected susceptible Caco-2 and Vero cells with pre-treated SARS-CoV-2 and determined the tissue culture infection dose 50 (TCID50) using crystal violet staining and microscopy. In addition, lysates of infected cells and virus containing supernatant were subjected to RT-qPCR analysis. We have found that guanidine thiocyanate and most of the tested detergent containing lysis buffers were effective in inactivation of SARS-CoV-2, however, the M-PER lysis buffer containing a proprietary detergent failed to inactivate the virus. In conclusion, careful evaluation of the used inactivation methods is required especially for non-denaturing buffers. Additional inactivation steps might be necessary before removal of lysed viral samples from BSL-3.
KW  - SARS-CoV-2
KW  - COVID-19
KW  - Bio safety
KW  - Corona virus
KW  - Stability
KW  - Inactivation
Y1  - 2021
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/63589
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-635895
SN  - 1432-1831
N1  - Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. The authors have received research funding from Hönle AG, Germany. We thank the numerous donations and the support of SARS-CoV-2 research. MW and SC were supported by the Goethe-Corona-Fond of the Goethe University & University Hospital Frankfurt. M.W. was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, WI 5086/1–1).
VL  - 210
IS  - 4
SP  - 235
EP  - 244
PB  - Springer
CY  - Berlin ; Heidelberg
ER  -