Influence and production of interferon in Rauscher virus infected mice

Summary The inoculation, during an eleven day period, of interferon did not protect NMRI mice against the splenomegalic response to the Rauscher leukemia virus. Nor was there any protection recorded by the endogenous production of interferon induced by heterologous viruses (ND or Sindbis virus) or by endotoxin, although the leukemia virus was given at the time high amounts of interferon were produced. The implications of these observations are discussed.Mice infected with the Rauscher virus were shown to loose their interferon producing ability for a heterologous virus (Sindbis) injected intravenously. This effect reached its maximum 40 hours after infection with the Rauscher virus. Thereafter, a gradual but incomplete recovery of the Interferon producing ability was recorded. However, the interferon production induced by endotoxin was not lowered in mice previously inoculated with the Rauscher virus.This work was supported by a grant from the Nationaal Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek.