Recovery of an Interferon-Like Substance from Cerebrospinal Fluid.

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Abstract
Summary One hundred and eighty-one cerebrospinal fluids from 152 patients with infectious and non-infectious diseases of the central nervous system were tested for inter-feron. Thirty-two specimens from 28 patients contained a viral inhibitory factor similar to interferon, as assayed in primary cultures of human amnion cells “challenged” with Sind-bis virus. The cerebrospinal fluids from 23 of 58 patients with probable viral meningitis were inhibitory, while the CSFs from only 3 of 25 patients with bacterial meningitis and 2 of 69 patients with non-infectious diseases of the CNS were positive. There was a correlation between leucocyte concentration in the CSF of patients with aseptic meningitis and presence of the interferon-like substance. The source of this inhibitor in the CSF is discussed. We gratefully acknowledge the constant help and guidance of Dr. J. F. Enders during these investigations and in preparation of this article. We should also like to express our gratitude to Miss T. Mullin of the Record Room, Children's Hospital Medical Center, for cooperation in obtaining hospital records of many of the patients in this study, and to the Pediatric House and Nursing Staffs, Children's Hospital Medical Center, for cooperation in obtaining CSF specimens. Dr. David Carver most generously permitted us to test a number of CSF specimens he had collected in his study of an epidemic of aseptic meningitis (3) and to include some of his data on the recovery of viruses from these patients.