Interferon-? Inhibits Ebola Virus Infection

Rhein, Bethany A.; Powers, Linda S.; Rogers, Kai; Anantpadma, Manu; Singh, Brajesh K.; Sakurai, Yasuteru; Bair, Thomas; Miller-Hunt, Catherine; Sinn, Patrick; Davey, Robert A.; Monick, Martha M.; Maury, Wendy

Using EBOV GP/rVSV, we next sought to assess the relative contribution of IFNγ and TNFα in inhibiting virus infection. While TNFα treatment of M-CSF-treated peritoneal macrophages did not inhibit EBOV GP/rVSV replication, the addition of IFNγ prevented infection in either BALB/c or C57BL/6 peritoneal macrophages (S2 Fig). Thus, subsequent studies solely focused on the impact of IFNγ on infection. To confirm that IFNγ, and not TNFα, was important for inhibiting EBOV infection, increasing concentrations of IFNγ were evaluated for virus inhibition. Murine IFNγ reduced EBOV infection in a dose-dependent manner with 20 pg/mL of IFNγ inhibiting more than 70% of infection and 2 ng/mL providing greater than 95% protection ( Fig 1B) .