Interferon system of human cornea cells: interferon production, characterization, and development of antiviral state

The interferon (IFN) system of human cornea cells in culture was studied. IFN produced by these cells by infection with Newcastle disease virus (NDV) was shown, by neutralization studies with specific antisera against human alpha interferon (HuIFN-alpha) and human beta interferon (HuIFN-beta), to contain 90-95% antiviral activity characteristic of the HuIFN-beta and 5-10% that of HuIFN-alpha. The chromatographic behavior of human cornea IFN on Con A-Sepharose and zinc chelate agarose columns was identical to that of HuIFN-beta produced by human foreskin cells. The cornea cells developed marked resistance when exposed to either HuIFN-beta or human gamma interferon (HuIFN-gamma) against vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), but to a much lesser degree against HSV-1. Both the laboratory-adapted strain and a clinical isolate of HSV-1 were found to be resistant to HuIFN-beta and HuIFN-gamma as compared with VSV. The clinical isolate of HSV-1 was, however, more sensitive to HuIFN-gamma than the laboratory-adapted strain. Furthermore, a combination of HuIFN-beta and HuIFN-gamma did not significantly increase the level of antiviral state induced in cornea cells against HSV-1. These results suggest that in-vitro culture of human cornea cells can be a valuable system to evaluate the potential of chemotherapeutic agents against common ophthalmic viral infections.