Effect of Double-Stranded Viral RNA on Mammalian Cells in Culture

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Abstract
During bovine enterovirus infection of Ehrlich ascites tumor cells, large amounts of double-stranded RNA accumulate. Addition of this double-stranded RNA to uninfected cells leads to rapid cell death. This is not a result of infectious virus production. Neither single-stranded RNA nor heat-denatured double-stranded RNA has this effect. Similar experiments with synthetic double-stranded polymers, poly(I).poly(C) and poly(A).poly(U), show that they are only slightly toxic at the concentrations used. The effect of the double-stranded RNA is nonspecific for cells of different origins. The implications of this finding in relation to the cytopathic effects of picornavirus and to cancer chemotherapy are discussed.