INHIBITION OF VIRUS-INDUCED AGE-DEPENDENT POLIOMYELITIS BY INTERFERON-GAMMA

Age-dependent poliomyelitis (ADPM) is a neuroparolytic disease which r esults from combined infection of susceptible mice with lactate dehydr ogenase-elevating virus (LDV) and murine leukemia virus (MuLV). The pr esent study examined the effects of interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) treat ment on the incidence of ADPM, replication of LDV and MuLV and anti-LD V immunity. IFN-gamma treatment of ADPM-susceptible C58/M mice protect ed them from paralytic disease, but had no detectable effect on the Ig e anti-LDV response or LDV viremia. IFN-gamma-mediated protection from ADPM correlated with reduced expression of LDV RNA, but not MuLV RNA, in the spinal cords of C58/M mice. These results confirm that spinal cord LDV replication is the determinant of ADPM and demonstrate that c ytokine-mediated inhibition of LDV replication in the central nervous system prevents neuroparalytic disease. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.