Replacement of animal serum proteins by human albumin for growth and interferon production by Namalva cells.

Growth and interferon production by human lymphoblastoid cells (Namalva) have been achieved by using medium with a complete substitution of human albumin for fetal bovine serum. Medium containing 0.3% human albumin supported exponential cell growth (minimum doubling time, 20 h) in Bilthoven 10-liter fermentors. Interferon induction with Sendai virus resulted in interferon yields of 0.5 x 10(4) to 1.0 x 10(4) interferon units per 10(6) Namalva cells per ml in RPMI 1640 medium containing 0.15 to 0.3% human albumin. Both cell growth and interferon production in medium containing human albumin were comparable to growth and interferon production in the same medium containing 10 and 5% fetal bovine serum, respectively.