Increased susceptibility of cells treated with interferon to the toxicity of polyriboinosinic-polyribocytidylic acid.

Concentrations of the synthetic polymer polyriboinosinic.polyribocytidylic acid that produced no detectable toxicity in normal L cells produced marked cytotoxicity in L cells treated with interferon. This increase in the susceptibility of cells to the toxicity of the polymer was also observed in human cells and secondary mouse embryo cells treated with homologous interferons before exposure to the polynucleotides. The degree of enhancement of toxicity was dependent on the concentration of interferon to which the cells were exposed. The ratio of antiviral activity induced by interferon to enhancement of toxicity by interferon remained constant through about 1000-fold purification. Various interferon preparations induced by viruses or by polyriboinosinic.polyribocytidylic acid in vivo or in vitro, and international reference standard interferons all exhibited enhancement of toxicity. Both enhancement of toxicity and antiviral activity were destroyed by trypsin and by incubation at 56 degrees for 1 hr, did not act on heterologous cells, were not sedimented by ultracentrifugation, and were not inactivated by ribonuclease, deoxyribonuclease, irradiation with ultraviolet light, or exposure to a pH of 2.