Purification of mumps virus particles of high viability

Mumps is a highly infectious viral disease of humans with a wide array of clinical manifestations ranging from painful swelling of the salivary glands to meningitis and encephalitis. Despite the clinical importance of mumps virus, most of what is known of its biological properties comes from studies using supernatants from virus infected cell cultures, which contain substantial levels of host cell derived debris and biologically active substances such as cytokines, transcription factors and secreted virus proteins. These contaminants complicate interpretation of studies of virus replication, virus-host interactions and in vivo virulence. Here we describe a protocol for concentration of the virus from cell culture supernatants followed by gradient purification, resulting in attainment of high titer live virus of high purity.