Inhibition by interferon of herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase and DNA polymerase in infected and biochemically transformed cells.

The induction of thymidine kinase (TK) and DNA polymerase was inhibited by interferon (IFN) in mouse L-cells infected with herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1). The inhibitory activity of IFN at this early stage of HSV-1 replication was followed by a reduced virus yield and was dependent on the multiplicity of infection. The expression of a cloned thymidine kinase (tk) gene of HSV-1, in biochemically transformed L-cells (LTK+), was not affected by IFN. These same LTK+ cells, however, developed an antiviral state since, upon HSV-1 infection, the induction of TK and DNA polymerase of the replicating virus was inhibited by IFN. Furthermore, IFN inhibited the transactivation of the HSV-1 tk gene in the biochemically transformed LTK+ cells, which followed infection by a virus mutant defective in the tk gene (HSV-1 TK-). This transactivation is dependent on expression of immediate-early HSV-1 alpha-genes. These results indicate that IFN inhibits HSV-1 replication at an early step prior to DNA synthesis. In addition, IFN displays a differential effect on the HSV-1 thymidine kinase gene, either when part of the replicating virus or when expressed as a cellular gene in biochemically transformed cells.