In vitro selection of Junin virus antigenic variants

Summary The establishment of an experimental persistent infection with Junin virus, the aetiological agent of argentine hemorrhagic fever, involves the emergence of antigenic variants in brain and blood of the cricetidCalomys musculinus. We demonstrate that antigenic variants can also be isolated in vitro under the selective pressure of polyclonal antibodies and from a long-term infectedC. musculinus primary embryo fibroblast culture. The participation of neutralizing antibodies and host cells in the appearance of viral variants in vivo is discussed.