Macrophage activation for cytolysis of virally infected target cells.

Bone-marrow-culture-derived macrophages killed virally infected cells but not uninfected cells. This activity could be enhanced by preexposure of the macrophages to lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and/or purified interferons. The ability to kill virally infected targets was not restricted to a single cell type or virus. Comparing the ability of activators to induce activity against virally infected targets or tumor (P815) targets, it was found that much lower levels of LPS or alpha/beta-interferon were able to induce cytolytic activity for virally infected cells than were needed for tumor targets. Further, while the antitumor activity did not change significantly with an increase in the time of exposure to activating stimuli from 4 to 24 h, the activity against virally infected cells decreased dramatically with the longer exposure to stimuli.