Inhibition of Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 Specific Translation in Cells Treated with Poly(rI).poly(rC)

Abstract
Primary African green monkey kidney cells (GMK) treated with poly(rI).poly(rC) in the presence of DEAE-dextran (‘treated cells’) developed antiviral resistance and concomitantly released interferon into the medium. Treated and untreated cells were infected with herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV1) in the presence of cytosine arabinoside (araC), and total RNA was isolated and hybridized with purified radio-labelled HSV1 DNA. The intracellular concentration of virus-specific transcripts was not significantly altered in treated cells, but a smaller proportion of the genome of HSV1 hybridized with the extracted RNA. Transcription was similarly restricted when protein synthesis was inhibited by cycloheximide.