Effects of procaine and oxyphenylbutazone on interferon-mediated inhibition of murine leukemia virus production

Abstract

Treatment of murine NIH/MOL, C cells which are chronically infected with Moloney murine leukemia virus (MuLV), with mouse interferon (IFN), causes inhibition of extracellular MuLV production. We tested the effect of procaine, a drug that is known to expand cellular membranes and to increase their fluidity, on IFN-mediated inhibition of MuLV production. We observed that procaine did not alleviate this inhibition when IFN was present during procaine treatment. However, if IFN was removed from the culture medium before procaine treatment, the inhibition of MuLV production was partially reversed. We also observed that procaine treatment caused an increase in the amount of MuLV production by cells which had not been treated with IFN. Oxyphenylbutazone (OPB) is an inhibitor of cyclooxygenase, a key enzyme in prostaglandin biosynthesis. New synthesis of prostaglandins is thought to be needed for the antiviral actions of IFN. We observed that OPB did not prevent the antiretroviral action of IFN on NIH/MOL, C cells. OPB also failed to alleviate the IFN-mediated inhibition of replication of vesicular stomatitis virus either in NIH/MOL, C cells or in the L929 cells.