Recombinant interleukin-1 alpha, interleukin-2 and M-CSF-1 enhance the survival of newborn C57BL/6 mice inoculated intraperitoneally with a lethal dose of herpes simplex virus-1.

Recombinant Interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1 alpha), Interleukin-2 (IL-2) and recombinant macrophage colony-stimulating factor-1 (M-CSF-1) as well as combinations of IL-2 and M-CSF-1 were studied for their ability to protect seven-day-old C57BL/6 mice against HSV-1 infection. Treatment of the mice with IL-2, M-CSF-1 or combinations of IL-2 and M-CSF-1 significantly increased survival rates. Treatment with IL-1 alpha (10 U and 100 U/mouse) was most effective in protection against HSV-1, resulting in significantly increased survival rates more than four times greater than the survival rate of the infected control group.