Antiviral effect of short hyperthermic treatment at specific stages of vesicular stomatitis virus replication cycle

Starting from the observation that the antiviral activity of cyclopentenone prostaglandins is associated with the synthesis ofa 70K heat shock protein (HSP70), we have analysed the effect of short hyperthermic treatment (HT) on HSP70 induction and virus production in monkey epithelial cells during the replication of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV). The heat shock response, as determined by HSP70 synthesis, appeared to be un-altered in VSV-infected cells in the first 4 h following virus infection, after which time it started to decline. No induction of HSP70 synthesis was observed when HT was applied 8 h after VSV infection. A 20 min HT at 45 °C was effective in suppressing VSV multiplication by more than 90 % when applied at specific stages of the virus replication cycle. Synthesis of virus proteins wa