Spontaneous interferon production and Epstein-Barr virus antigen expression in human lymphoid cell lines.

Established human lymphoid cell lines, many of which spontaneously produce interferon, differ in the efficiency by which they allow expression of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) lytic functions. Six EBV carrying lymphoid cell lines, selected to either be extremely susceptible or very refractory to EBV superinfection, were tested for spontaneous interferon production. Only the three cell lines which were poorly superinfectable with EBV were found to produce interferon. These same three lines could not be induced to express EBV-specific early antigens from intrinsic EBV genomes. It is suggested that interferon acts as a negative control factor affecting a cell's susceptibility to EBV.