Interferon and interferon inducers in protozoal infections

Several interferon inducers (Newcastle disease virus, statolon, and poly rI:poly rC) as well as exogenous mouse interferon protect mice from sporozoite-induced Plasmodium berghei malaria, as long as they are administered before the end of the preerythrocytic phase of development of the parasite. The protective effect of the interferon inducers was related to their interferon-inducing effect; the protective effect of the interferon preparations was related to the interferon titer of the preparations, and it exhibited other attributes of interferon such as species specificity. In contrast to sporozoite-induced infection, blood forms-induced P. berghei malaria was only weakly susceptible to the protective effect of interferon inducers. This difference may provide an approach to study the mechanism of protection. The growth in cell cultures of another intracellular protozoon, Toxoplasma gondii, is also inhibited by interferon (22). The fact that P. berghei and T. gondii (as well as another group of intracellular parasites susceptible to interferon, the Chlamydia) have their own ribosomes raises questions, concerning the role of host cell ribosomes in the host cell-parasite relationship of these intracellular parasites and in the mechanism of interferon action against them, that can be approached experimentally. The possibility of therapeutic or prophylactic application of interferon or of its inducers to certain protozoal diseases of man and of other animals is still remote, but it has to be considered for long range planning.