Abstract
THE Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) can transform human and simian lymphocytes into blast cells which are then capable of indefinite growth in vitro1–4, with 85–100% of the cell population expressing the EBV-induced nuclear antigen (EBNA). Biological5–7 and molecular8 evidence shows clearly that there are at least two types of EBV strains, one of which (P3HR-1 EBV) does not transform human lymphocytes5–6 and seems to possess approximately 15% more DNA sequences than the highly transforming strain (B95-8 EBV)8. Furthermore, by infecting cells of the established EBV genome-negative BJA-B line9 it was also possible to show that whereas B95-8 EBV induces only EBNA in these cells, P3HR-1 EBV induces both EBNA and early antigen (EA)7. Thus, by using cells of BJA-B line, it now seems possible to investigate further several known viral functions10. We report here the results of a study in which we found that lymphocyte transformation by B95-8 strain of EBV could not be prevented by interferon. As shown below, this finding is further supported by the observation that in spite of the presence of interferon in very high doses (that is, up to 104 U ml−1), EBNA can still be produced in a fraction of the EBV-infected BJA-B cells.
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