The effect of high doses of poly(I).poly(C) induced mouse L cell interferon on Rauscher leukemia virus induced erythroleukemia in BALB/c mice.

The effect of high doses of poly(I).poly(C) induced mouse L-cell interferon on the development of Rauscher murine leukemia virus (R-MuLV)-induced erythroleukemia in BALB/c mice was determined. Female mice, 4 to 5 weeks old, were infected with R-MuLV and treated with interferon every 24 h starting 6 h after virus inoculation. Under these conditions injection of 3-5 X 10(4) units of interferon caused a partial inhibition of the leukemia process. Daily application of 3 X 10(5) units completely or almost completely inhibited the erythroleukemia. After 14 days of treatment with these high doses of interferon, spleen weights of interferon-treated infected mice were comparable to those of uninfected animals which received only interferon. Also, no Rauscher cells in spleens and livers of R-MuLV-infected interferon-treated infected animals could be demonstrated and the spleen structure was well preserved in these mice. In interferon-treated infected animals no virus could be detected in the serum as judged from the absence of reverse transcriptase activity in the serum. Moreover, no virus-infected cells could be demonstrated in spleen or liver as deduced from negative immunofluorescence data using anti-p30 and anti-gp70 sera. No virions budding from spleen cell membranes were seen by electron microscopic studies. However, when interferon treatment was stopped the leukemic process was reactivated and all the mice died. In control experiments interferon caused an inhibition of red blood cell formation and a 50 to 100% enlargement of the spleen. Pharmacokinetic data showed that, after intraperitoneal inoculation, maximum amounts of interferon were present in the peripheral blood after 1-2 h. After 12-24 h almost all interferon activity had disappeared from the blood.