An Attempt to Modify Scrapie in Mice by the Administration of Interferon

Although the scrapie agent has for many years been considered a virus (Cuill & Chelle, 1938; Eklund, Hadlow & Kennedy, 1963; Andrewes, 1964), recent work has emphasized the need for re-examining this classification (Pattison, 1965; Alper, Haig & Clarke, 1966; Pattison & Jones, 1967; Gibbons & Hunter, 1967). We thought it worth while, therefore, to determine the effect of interferon (Isaacs & Lindenmann, 1957) on scrapie, since previous experiments had demonstrated the efficacy of this antiviral factor in inhibiting the evolution of well-defined acute (Finter, 1964a; Finter, 1967; Gresser et al. 1968a) and subacute (Gresser et al. 1967; Gresser et al. 1968b) viral diseases of mice, and because, to the best of our knowledge, the action of interferon on the scrapie agent has not previously been examined. Swiss and ic Villejuif mice were from inbred colonies maintained at the Institut du Cancer.