Comparison of the effects of alpha and beta interferons on the proliferation and volume of human tumor cells (HeLa-S3, Daudi, P3HR-1).

Treatment of three lines of tumor cells (epidermoid carcinoma: HeLa-S3, and Burkitt's lymphoma: Daudi and P3HR-1) with human alpha or beta interferon (HuIFN-alpha or HuIFN-beta) results in inhibition of cell proliferation as well as in increased modal cell volume and heterogeneity of the populations with respect to cell volume. In all three cell lines the IFN-alpha- or IFN-beta-induced changes in cell proliferation and in cell volume are inversely related to each other. However, these lines differ significantly in their sensitivity to the effects of IFN-alpha and IFN-beta.