Production of cytokines with antiviral activity by endothelial cells

We compared the replication of VSV in human umbilical cord vein organ cultures (OC) with that in endothelial cells detached from the vein and infected immediately or infected after 24 h in culture. In four experiments of five, the virus titers obtained in the endothelial cells infected after 24 h in culture were 10-100 times higher than in the OC and 100-1000 times higher than in the freshly detached endothelial cells. To determine whether production of IFN, TNF, and IL-6 in the various cultures correlated with the data for virus yields, we measured the amounts of these cytokines formed. The OC produced considerably larger amounts of all of these. The endothelial cells produced very little IFN and TNF. Overall, there was no clear correlation between virus production and the amounts of these cytokines formed.