INDUCTION OF INTERFERON IN HUMAN-LEUKOCYTE CULTURES BY NATURAL PATHOGENIC RESPIRATORY VIRUSES

Some common viruses responsible for respiratory disease have been repo rted to be poor inducers of interferon (IFN). Therefore, we have studi ed the induction of IFN in cultures;of human leukocytes exposed under standardized conditions to various concentrations of adenovirus type 7 A, coronavirus 229E, an influenza type A virus (H3N2), a rhinovirus, a nd respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). All five viruses induced substan tial amounts of IFN at a multiplicity of infection of one infectious u nit per cell or less. Leukocyte cultures from 50 healthy children were exposed to a standard concentration of each of the viruses. IFN was i nduced almost without an exception, but the amounts produced varied ex tensively according to both the virus and the individual leukocyte don or.