Antibacterial activity of BCG-induced, interferon-containing sera.

Sera from mice which have been vaccinated with BCG and challenged with old tuberculin contain gamma interferon. These same sera also express antibacterial activity. Using Staphylococcus aureus we demonstrated that its growth was inhibited at dilutions of sera as high as 1:320. A 4% concentration of sera reduced the growth rate of the S. aureus from 1.6 to 0.6 doubling times per hour. The activity was stable at 56 degrees C but destroyed by 80 degrees C. It was nondialysable and destroyed by acid conditions (pH 2.0) and by the proteolytic enzymes trypsin and chymotrypsin. Antibodies to gamma interferon neutralized the antiviral activity but not the antibacterial activity. Mitogen-induced and virus-induced interferons did not have activity. We subsequently demonstrated that the factor could be induced in mice using BCG without the secondary old tuberculin challenge. No gamma interferon was found in the sera of mice given BCG without old tuberculin. These findings indicate that the antibacterial activity of these sera is not dependent on the presence of gamma interferon. We will continue to work to characterize and identify the antibacterial component in these sera.