Indomethacin and aspirin do not inhibit the antiviral or anti-proliferative actions of interferon.

Neither indomethacin nor aspirin, at concentrations which inhibited the formation of prostaglandins and prevented the interferon-induced increase in the intracellular concentration of cyclic GMP, had any significant effect on the development of the interferon-induced antiviral state either in mouse L1210 cells challenged with vesicular stomatitis virus or in mice infected with encephalomyocarditis virus. Furthermore, neither drug had any significant effect on the interferon-induced inhibition of cell multiplication in cultures of mouse leukaemia L1210 cells. The differences in the effects of these cyclo-oxygenase inhibitors on different interferon effects may provide some insight into the different pathways of interferon action.