Comparison of the Antiviral Activities of Various Cloned Human Interferon- Subtypes in Mammalian Cell Cultures

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Abstract
Five human interferon-.alpha. (leukocyte) subtypes derived from genes cloned in Escherichia coli were compared for their ability to induce antiviral activity against vesicular stomatitis virus infection of various mammalian cell cultures. These interferons, designated LeIF-A (IFN-.alpha.2), -B, -C, -D (IFN-.alpha.1) and LeIF-F, show different relative activities when assayed on human, bovine, hamster, mouse, rabbit and monkey cell lines. As with a natural human buffy-coat interferon-.alpha. preparation, 3 subtypes (LeIF-B, -C and -D) showed considerable activity on rabbit kidney RK-13 cells, but 2 (LeIF-D and -F) also showed some activity on mouse L-929 cells. Of the 5 interferon subtypes examined, LeIF-F demonstrated the highest degree of species specificity.