ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the biological and chemical characteristics of interferon induction by polynucleotides. During the early research which led to the observation that double-stranded ribonucleic acids' were potent interferon inducers, the Merck group routinely employed the induction of resistance to infection of primary rabbit kidney cells by vesicular stomatitis virus. The application of polyamines to enhance interferon production remains a useful but poorly understood tool for in vitro studies and as yet without clearly established value in the in vivo application of complexed polynucleotides as inducers of interferon or host resistance to viral infections. Evidence that this induced interference in cell culture was mediated by interferon was implied by the broad spectrum of antiviral activity. Thermal activation has been attempted unsuccessfully using complexed polynucleotides in chick embryo cell cultures, primary rabbit kidney cells and RK13 cell cultures, suggesting either that the polynucleotides used in different studies have varied greatly from laboratory to laboratory.
