Production and Susceptibility to Interferon of Polyoma Virus Variants of High and Low

SUMMARY-Interferon production by polyoma virus variants C-H+ and C+Ho in mouse embryo cells has been studied, The less cytopathic and more oncogenic C-H+ variant induced 4- to 12-fold greater interferon production in mouse cells and was more susceptible to the action of interferon. The C+Ho variant, which is more cytopathic and less oncogenic, produced smaller amounts of interferon, and was less susceptible to its action. It is suggested that the production and sensitivity to interferon render the cells resistant to the cytopathogenic effect of the virus and thus contributes to the establishment of the oncogenic relationship between the polyoma virus and the mouse cell.-J Nat Cancer Inst 37: 99-103, 1966. INTERFERON PRODUCTION by polyoma virus in mouse-embryo cell cultures has been reported by several authors (1-3). Allison (1) showed that polyoma virus in mouse embryo cells is sensitive to the action of interferon. Friedman