Herpesvirus Saimiri: In Vitro Sensitivity to Virus-Induced Interferon and to Polyriboinosinic Acid: Polyribocytidylic Acid 1

Abstract

Summary

The sensitivity of H. saimiri to virus-induced interferon and to the synthetic polynucleotide Poly I:C was determined in OMK cell cultures. These studies indicated that H. saimiri is relatively insensitive to the interferon activity in cultures pretreated for 6 hr with NDV-induced interferon. The degree of protection was improved when the cells were kept in interferon medium after the challenge with the virus. A direct pretreatment of the cells with low doses of Poly I:C induced a good protection which was greatly increased by a simultaneous addition of DEAE-D in the medium. The action of the Poly I:C/DEAE-D complex was considerably more effective when the treatment was initiated 1 hr after the inoculation of the virus. These findings suggest that the use of synthetic polynucleotides might prove to be useful for the inhibition of the malignancy produced by H. saimiri in susceptible nonhuman primates.