Interferon treatment reduced adherence, invasiveness and intracellular multiplication of Shigella flexneri in coxsackie B1 virus-infected cells.

The effect of interferon treatment on interaction of Shigella flexneri with in vitro cultured cells was investigated. Pretreatment of HEp-2 cells with human interferons had no effect on the susceptibility of cells to S. flexneri, measured by invasiveness and adhesiveness. Human leukocyte interferon and human recombinant interferon-alpha-A reduced adhesiveness, intracellular multiplication and invasiveness of S. flexneri in HEp-2 cells preinfected with coxsackie B1 virus. Also non-receptor mediated-phagocytosis was reduced by interferon treatment in virus infected cells. The interferon effects were dependent on continuous protein synthesis, because they were not expressed when cycloheximide or abrin was added to the virus infected cell cultures. No effect of interferon was detected on intracellular content of Na+ or K+, Na(+)-K+ activated ATPase activity or cytoplasma membrane polarity, in virus infected or control cell cultures. The interferon effect on bacterial invasiveness seems to be dependent on an interferon receptor interaction on cytoplasma membrane level because directly microinjected interferon showed no effect.