Expression of interferon genes in murine macrophages: Possible role of endogenous interferon in the modulation of cell differentiation.

The expression of interferon (IFN)-β gene was studied in mouse peritoneal macrophages (PM) harvested from normal mice (lps ( n )) or LPS-hyporesponsive mice (lps ( d )). A strong direct correlation between the LPS response of PM and their capacity to expressing basal levels of IFN was found. The results suggest that the constitutive expression of IFN-β gene can play an important role not only in the resistance to viral infection but also in the modulation of cell differentiation.