Treatment of mengovirus infection in mice with statolon

A single intraperitoneal injection of statolon was shown to exert a therapeutic effect on mice previously injected with the large plaque-forming variant of mengovirus. The ld(50) and survival time data demonstrated that such treatment was effective when given 2 to 48 hr after infection. No protective effect was apparent when statolon was administered 3, 4, or 5 days after the viral challenge. It was concluded that statolon, or other similar interferon inducers, may be of therapeutic value in instances of accidental or other known exposure to hazardous viral agents.     

Duration of Prophylactic Effect of Statolon Against Mengovirus in Mice

Intraperitoneal injection of statolon into mice is known to exert a protective effect against a subsequent infection with a variety of viruses owing to stimulation of production of interferon. To study the duration of such protection, groups of mice were treated with 350 mug of statolon at 69, 55, 41, 27, 13, 6, or 1 day prior to a challenge with mengovirus. Other groups were treated with 760 mug at 1 to 6 days before challenge. Ten days after inoculation with the virus, LD(50) determinations were made for each group. Mice which received statolon 1 to 5 days before infection were significantly more resistant to the virus than nontreated controls; no protection could be demonstrated in the other groups.     

Influence of Statolon on Resistance of Mice to Influenza

Various interferon inducers are known to elicit protection against lethal or infecting doses of certain viral agents. Because of the relatively high morbidity rate of influenza and its seasonal occurrence, we wished to determine whether statolon-induced interferon might be effective in controlling this disease. Mice were treated intraperitoneally with statolon and challenged with influenza A(2) virus by the intranasal route. Although interferon was present in the serum at the time of virus administration, no change in mortality rate was observed. There was, however, a significant increase in the mean survival time of treated animals. Similar results were obtained when Newcastle disease virus was used as the interferon inducer. To determine the effect of the route of challenge, other mice were treated with statolon or Newcastle disease virus and inoculated with mengovirus by the intranasal or intraperitoneal route. The results demonstrated that the treated mice were protected to similar degree against challenge by either route. It is suggested that the relative ineffectiveness of interferon in protecting mice against influenza is due to an intrinsic characteristic of the virus itself rather than the type of interferon induced or the route of virus challenge.     

Effect of Statolon-induced Interferon on Antibody Formation

The effect of statolon-induced interferon on immune response was investigated. Young adult Swiss albino mice were immunized with chicken red blood cells or infectious mengovirus. The red blood cells were injected three times and the virus twice at 2-week intervals, with or without treatment with statolon 24 hr before the inoculations. The effect of interferon on antibody formation was measured by determinations of hemagglutinating, hemolytic, and virus-neutralizing antibodies in the sera of treated and nontreated groups. The hemagglutinin and hemolysin titers after each successive inoculation were equal in both groups, indicating that interferon had no effect on their production. A decrease in the primary response to the viral antigen was associated with interferon induction; the booster response was unaffected. The possible use of interferon inducers as attenuants for immunization with live virulent viruses is discussed.     

Selective Irreversible Inactivation of Replicating Mengovirus by Nucleoside Analogues: a New Form of Viral Interference

We describe the selective irreversible inhibition of mengovirus growth in cultured cells by a combination of two pyrrolopyrimidine nucleoside analogues, 5-bromotubercidin (BrTu) and tubercidin (Tu). At a concentration of 5 microgram/ml, BrTu reversibly blocked the synthesis of cellular mRNA and rRNA but did not inhibit either mengovirus RNA synthesis or multiplication. BrTu is a potent inhibitor of adenosine kinase, and low concentrations of BrTu (e.g., 0.5 microgram/ml), which did not by themselves inhibit cell growth, blocked phosphorylation of Tu and thus protected uninfected cells against irreversible cytotoxicity resulting from Tu incorporation into nucleic acids. In contrast, in mengovirus-infected cells, BrTu did not completely inhibit Tu incorporation into mengovirus RNA, allowing the formation of Tu-containing functionally defective polynucleotides that aborted the virus development cycle. This increased incorporation of Tu coupled to mengovirus infection could be attributed either to a reduction in the inhibitory action of BrTu and/or its nucleotide derivatives at the level of nucleoside and nucleotide kinases and/or, perhaps, to an effect upon the nucleoside transport system. The virus life cycle in nucleoside-treated cells progressed to the point of synthesis of negative strands and probably to the production of a few defective new positive strands. Irreversible virus growth arrest was achieved if the nucleoside mixture of BrTu (0.5 to 10 microgram/ml) and Tu (1 to 20 microgram/ml) was added no later than 30 min after virus infection and maintained for periods of 2 to 8 h. The cultures thus "cured" of mengovirus infection could be maintained and transferred for several weeks, during which they neither produced detectable virus nor showed a visible cytopathic effect; however, the infected and cured cells themselves, while metabolically viable, were permanently impaired in RNA synthesis and unable to divide. Although completely resistant to superinfecting picornaviruses, they retained the ability to support the growth of several other viruses (vaccinia virus, reovirus, and vesicular stomatitis virus), showing that cured cells had, in general, retained the metabolic and structural machinery needed for virus production. The resistance of cured cells to superinfection with picornaviruses seemed attributable neither to interferon action nor to destruction or blockade of virus receptors but more likely to the consumption of some host factor(s) involved in the expression of early viral functions during the original infection.     

Polyacetal Carboxylic Acids: a New Group of Antiviral Polyanions

Chlorite-oxidized oxypolysaccharides are polyacetal carboxylic acids. They inhibited the cytopathic effect of vesicular stomatitis virus in mouse embryo cell cultures challenged at low input multiplicity. After intraperitoneal injection of these compounds in mice, interferon appeared in the circulation. The compounds also protected mice against lethal mengovirus infection and against the development of experimental pox lesions on the tail. Chlorite-oxidized oxyamylose was antiviral only when at least 64% of the glucopyranose units were oxidized, an observation which suggested a correlation between charge density and antiviral effect. The antiviral activity was also influenced by the molecular weight, as demonstrated by the fact that chlorite-oxidized dextrans which had a high intrinsic viscosity were more active than those with low intrinsic viscosity.     

Inhibition of Synchronized Cellular Deoxyribonucleic Acid Synthesis During Newcastle Disease Virus, Mengovirus, or Reovirus Infection

Cultures of L cells were synchronized with respect to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) synthesis with thymidine and 5-fluoro-2'-deoxyuridine (FUdR) and infected with Newcastle disease virus (NDV), mengovirus, or reovirus 3. Inhibition of incorporation of (3)H-cytidine into the DNA of synchronized cells is partially inhibited 2 hr after infection with NDV or mengovirus and nearly completely suppressed 4 hr after infection. With NDV and mengovirus, no evidence was obtained of differences in sensitivity of cells during early S phase as compared to later stages in DNA synthesis. When cells were infected with reovirus at the time of release from FUdR block, inhibition of cellular DNA synthesis was evident at 2 to 3 hr, and it was complete at 4 to 5 hr after infection. However, when cells were infected several hours prerelease, synthesis of DNA occurred in early S phase in spite of the fact that the cells had been infected for up to 6 hr. The results indicate that DNA synthesis in early S phase is relatively insensitive to the inhibitory function of reovirus. Colorimetric determinations (diphenylamine reaction) of the amounts of DNA produced in synchronized cells have substantiated the inhibition of DNA synthesis observed by isotope incorporation techniques.     

Mengovirus Replication in Novikoff Rat Hepatoma and Mouse L Cells: Effects on Synthesis of Host-Cell Macromolecules and Virus-specific Synthesis of Ribonucleic Acid

Novikoff cells (strain N1S1-67) and L-67 cells, a nutritional mutant of the common strain of mouse L cells which grows in the same medium as N1S1-67 cells, were infected with mengovirus under identical experimental conditions. The synthesis of host-cell ribonucleic acid (RNA) by either type of cell was not affected quantitatively or qualitatively until about 2 hr after infection, when viral RNA synthesis rapidly displaced the synthesis of cellular RNA. The rate of synthesis of protein by both types of cells continued at the same rate as in uninfected cells until about 3 hr after infection, and a disintegration of polyribosomes occurred only towards the end of the replicative cycle, between 5 and 6 hr. The time courses and extent of synthesis of single-stranded and double-stranded viral RNA and of the production of virus were very similar in both types of cells, in spite of the fact that the normal rate of RNA synthesis and the growth rate of uninfected N1S1-67 cells are about three times greater than those of L-67 cells. In both cells, the commencement of viral RNA synthesis coincided with the induction of viral RNA polymerase, as measured in cell-free extracts. Viral RNA polymerase activity disappeared from infected L-67 cells during the period of production of mature virus, but there was a secondary increase in activity in both types of cells coincidental with virus-induced disintegration of the host cells. Infected L-67 cells, however, disintegrated and released progeny virus much more slowly than N1S1-67 cells. The two strains of cells also differed in that replication of the same strain of mengovirus was markedly inhibited by treating N1S1-67 cells with actinomycin D prior to infection; the same treatment did not affect replication in L-67 cells.     

Simian Virus 40 Transformation and the Period of Cellular Deoxyribonucleic Acid Synthesis

The antiviral agents interferon and statolon protected cells of the mouse line 3T3 against the transforming effect of simian virus 40. Loss of ability of these agents to protect when added some time after infection indicated that the transformation was already fixed. The cells of exponentially growing cultures became resistant to the protective effect of interferon at a linear rate after infection; after one cell generation, the whole population was resistant. By use of synchronous cultures, it was shown that, in cells passing though the G-1 period of the growth cycle, the transformation did not pass the interferon-sensitive stage, whereas cells in S [the period of cellular deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) synthesis] readily passed this stage (i.e., became interferon-resistant). An irreversible step in transformation appeared to occur in cells synthesizing DNA, and it seems likely that replicating cellular DNA was the target of the viral action.     

System of Double Infection Between Vaccinia Virus and Mengovirus

When L cells are simultaneously infected with vaccinia virus and mengovirus, double interference in the replication of both viruses is observed. Superinfection of vaccinia virus-infected cells by mengovirus during the first 5 hr of infection reduces vaccinia virus yields to between 1 and 3% of controls. The yields of mengovirus are reduced to between 1 and 16% of controls, depending upon the time of superinfection. The replication of vaccinia deoxyribonucleic acid is not inhibited by mengovirus; it is only delayed. On the other hand, vaccinia multiplication severely hinders the replication of mengovirus ribonucleic acid. The double-infected system, at early times, synthesizes proteins that resemble those synthesized in the vaccinia virus-infected cells. Later in infection, however, the pattern is switched to proteins synthesized by mengovirus-infected cells. Possible mechanisms for this double interference in multiplication are discussed.     

Replication of mengovirus. I. Effect on synthesis of macromolecules by host cell

Plagemann, Peter G. W. (Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio), and H. Earle Swim. Replication of mengovirus. I. Effect on synthesis of macromolecules by host cell. J. Bacteriol. 91:2317-2326. 1966.-The replication of mengovirus was studied in two strains of Novikoff (rat) hepatoma cells propagated in vitro. The replicative cycle in both strains required 6.5 to 7 hr. Infection resulted in a marked depression of ribonucleic acid (RNA) and protein synthesis by strain N1S1-63. Inhibition of RNA synthesis was reflected by a decrease in the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)-dependent RNA polymerase activity of isolated nuclei. Mengovirus had no effect on either protein or RNA synthesis or on the DNA-dependent RNA polymerase activity of a second strain, N1S1-67. The time course of viral-induced synthesis of RNA by cells was studied in cells treated with actinomycin D. It was first detectable between 2.5 and 3 hr after infection and continued until 6.5 to 7 hr. The formation of mature virus was estimated biochemically by measuring the amount of RNA synthesized as a result of viral infection which was resistant to degradation by ribonuclease in the presence of deoxycholate. Approximately 70% of the deoxycholate-ribonuclease-resistant RNA was located in mature virus, and the remainder was double-stranded. The formation of mature virus began about 45 min after viral-directed (actinomycin-resistant) synthesis of RNA was detectable in the cell, and only about 18 to 20% of the total RNA synthesized was incorporated into virus. Release of virus from cells began about 1 hr after maturation was first detectable. Release of virus from cells was accompanied by a loss of a large proportion of their cytoplasmic RNA and protein.     

Repair Replication of HeLa Cell Deoxyribonucleic Acid in Cells Infected with Newcastle Disease Virus or Mengovirus or Treated with Puromycin

We examined repair replication of HeLa cell deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in cells infected with mengovirus or Newcastle disease virus or treated with puromycin. Cellular DNA was damaged by ultraviolet light and then pulse-labeled with (3)H-thymidine. Autoradiographic analysis of non-S-phase DNA synthesis (repair replication) showed that there was no inhibition of this process at a time when overall cellular DNA synthesis was severely inhibited by either virus infection or puromycin treatment.     

The role of macrophages in the early resistance to mouse hepatitus virus infection in nude mice.

Nude mice which had received intraperitoneal injection of silica simultaneously with infection of mouse hepatitis virus, NuU strain, died of severe necrotic hepatitis within 2 weeks postinfection, whereas those having received no silica survived for 3 weeks or more after challenge. Silica given day 4 postinoculation had no effect. The virus titers of the liver and spleen at day 4 as well as serum interferon levels at day 2 were much higher in silica-treated mice than those without silica treatment. At day 2 or 3 postinoculation, silica-treated mice were found to have a considerable number of necrotic foci in the liver with some neutrophil and lymphocyte infiltration, and viral antigen was present in the cytoplasm of some hepatocytes around necrotic foci. In contrast, those without silica treatment showed only some necrotic foci with some lymphocyte infiltration. Viral antigen was detected only in a few littoral cells but not in hepatocytes. The role of macrophages in the resistance at early stage of inection in nude mice is discussed.     

Transforming growth factor-beta inhibits the generation of cytotoxic T cells in virus-infected mice

The immunoregulatory effects of human recombinant transforming growth factor (rTGF) beta 1 and human recombinant glioblastoma-derived T cell suppressor factor (rG-TsF)/TGF beta 2 was investigated in mice infected with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) or vaccinia virus. Starting on the day of infection, i.p. injections of 1 microgram/day or rTGF-beta 1 or rG-TsF/TGF-beta 2 suppressed the generation of virus specific CTL. The effect of TGF-beta on CTL (day 8) was less pronounced when TGF-beta treatment was delayed for 3 days after LCMV infection. rG-TsF/TGF-beta 2 also has an inhibiting effect on CTL-mediated disease in LCMV-infected mice: it prolonged the survival time of mice infected with LCMV and reduced the local swelling reaction after infection into the footpad. These results indicate that rTGF-beta 1 and rG-TsF/TGF-beta 2 influence T cell immune reactivity in vivo.     

Host-Dependent Restriction of Mengovirus Replication

Mengovirus infection of a restrictive cell line, Maden's bovine kidney (MDBK), results in a virus yield 1,000-fold less than that obtained from productively infected cell lines such as L cells or Ehrlich ascites tumor cells (EAT). Cells of both types of host systems are infected with comparable efficiencies and are completely killed as a consequence of infection. Infective center assays, coupled with the observation of total cell killing, suggest that comparable numbers of cells synthesize viral antigen and release virus in both types of host system. Viral-specific ribonucleic acid (RNA) synthesis is initiated and proceeds in an identical fashion for approximately 4 hr after the infection of MDBK, EAT, or L-cells. At this time, viral RNA synthesis in MDBK ceases, whereas viral RNA synthesis in EAT and L-cells continues at a linear rate. These results indicate that none of the early viral events leading to the initiation of viral-specific RNA synthesis constitutes the primary site of mengovirus restriction in MDBK. Rather it appears that the cessation of viral RNA synthesis in restrictive cells constitutes the primary limiting event. Based on its delayed interaction with mengovirus RNA synthesis, it appears that the host-related restrictive agent is initially compartmentalized and then released as a consequence of infection subsequent to those early events in mengovirus infection leading to the initiation and continued synthesis of viral RNA.     

Pathogenesis of murine cytomegalovirus infection in natural killer cell-depleted mice.

The effect of natural killer (NK) cells on the course of acute and persistent murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) infection was examined by selectively depleting NK cell activity by inoculation of mice with antibody to asialo GM1, a neutral glycosphingolipid present at high concentrations on NK cells. The dose of MCMV required to cause 50% mortality or morbidity in control C57BL/6 mice dropped 4- and greater than 11-fold, respectively, in mice first treated with anti-asialo GM1. NK cell-depleted mice had higher (up to 1,000-fold) virus titers in their lungs, spleens, and livers at days 3, 5, 7, and 9 postinfection. Spleens and livers of control mice were virus-free by day 7 postinfection, and their lungs showed no signs of active infection at any time. In contrast, MCMV had disseminated to the lungs of NK cell-depleted mice by day 5, and these mice still had moderate levels of virus in their lungs, spleens, and livers at day 9. Markedly severe pathological changes were noted in the livers and spleens of NK cell-depleted, MCMV-infected mice. These included ballooning degeneration of hepatocytes and spleen necrosis. MCMV-infected, NK cell-depleted mice had severe spleen leukopenia, and their spleen leukocytes exhibited a significantly lower (up to 13-fold) response to the T cell mitogen concanavalin A when compared with those of uninfected and MCMV-infected controls. It appeared that NK cells exerted their most potent antiviral effect early in the infection, in a pattern correlating with interferon production and NK cell activation; treatment with anti-asialo GM1 later in infection had no effect on virus titers. The relative effect of NK cell depletion on MCMV pathogenesis depended on the injection route of the virus. NK cell depletion greatly augmented MCMV synthesis and pathogenesis in mice inoculated either intravenously or intraperitoneally but had no effect on the course of disease after intranasal inoculation, at any time point examined. One month after intraperitoneal inoculation of virus, NK cell depletion resulted in a six- to eightfold increase in salivary gland virus titers in persistently infected mice, suggesting that NK cells may be important in controlling virus synthesis in the salivary gland during persistent infection. This treatment did not, however, induce dissemination of virus to other organs. These data support the hypothesis that NK cells limit the severity, extent, and duration of acute MCMV infection and that they may also be involved in regulating the persistent infection.     

Selective translation of mengovirus RNA over Host mRNA in homologous, fractionated, cell-free translational systems from Ehrlich-ascites-tumor cells.

The selective translation of viral RNA in mengovirus-infected Ehrlich ascites tumor cells was investigated using fractionated translational systems whose macromolecular components were derived entirely from uninfected or virus-infected cells. Both systems translate host mRNA from uninfected cells, host mRNA from virus-infected cells, and mengovirus RNA. In competition experiments, where viral RNA and host mRNA were translated together in systems from uninfected cells, the relative amounts of virus-specific and host-specific proteins synthesized were proportional to the relative concentrations of the RNA templates. In systems whose components were obtained from virus-infected cells, mengovirus RNA was preferentially translated. 70% of the selectivity found in the translational systems derived from infected cells was due to the initiation factor fraction, the remaining 30% to components of the pH 5 enzyme fraction. In addition, host mRNA isolated after virus infection is translated in vitro to a lower extent in the presence of mengovirus RNA than is host mRNA from uninfected cells.     

Effects of intravenous silica on immune and non-immune functions of the murine host.

Silica, an agent toxic for macrophages, administered i.v. to DBA/2 mice rapidly depresses the clearance of colloidal carbon by the reticuloendothelial system and reduces the in vitro phagocytic activity of peritoneal macrophages harvested 3 days after silica injection. Silica blocks the humoral immune response to sheep erythrocytes and the cell-mediated immune response to allogeneic fibroblasts when given before antigen. Silica also induces complex alterations in spleen cell responsiveness to concanavalin A involving both local and serum factors. Silica had no significant effect on the induction of interferon by statolon or Newcastle disease virus. No unequivocal evidence was obtained that silica has a direct depressive effect on cells other that macrophages, but indirect effects on lymphocytes were produced most likely by factors released from silica-lysed macrophages. Intravenous silica may prove useful for the separation of interferon induction and immune response stimulation in studies of host resistance to infection and oncogenesis. Considerable variation exists in the immunodepressive effects of different preparations of silica.     

高致病性禽流感（H5N1）实验流行病学初探——感染途径

目的观测不同感染途径实验性感染BALB／c小鼠后的感染状况,了解H5N1病毒的感染特点,为更深入的流行病学研究提供理论基础。方法分别通过口腔接种、污染饲料、腹腔注射、皮肤损伤途径感染6—8周龄BALB／c小鼠,定期安乐动物采血及各器官组织进行血清学、病原学、病理学检查,记录抗体变化、病毒分离情况及病理学改变。结果各途径感染小鼠感染后出现竖毛、弓背、觅食减少、体重减轻、精神呆滞及神经系统症状,肺组织病毒分离及RT-PCR阳性,病理表现间质性肺炎。感染后第7d动物血清中可检测到H5N1抗体。结论通过口腔接种、污染饲料、腹腔注射及皮肤损伤多种途径感染BALB／c小鼠,均能发生感染,提示呼吸道以外的感染方式不容忽视,有益于人类更好的防控禽流感;可通过多种方式建模,深入研究禽流感的发病机制。