Utilization of Stabilized Forms of Polynucleotides

Abstract

Within a few years after the description of interferon by Isaacs and Lindemann (1957), it was recognized that interferon potentially was a broad spectrum antiviral agent of possibly high value in clinical medicine. However, the difficulty of preparing enough interferon, either non—human or human, prevented the adequate testing of this potentiality. Serious efforts were made to find non—replicating agents that would cause the host to synthesize his own interferon in large quantity. While a number of compounds were found that are capable of causing mice, and possibly humans, to make interferon, they either induced too small amounts or were too toxic (Merigan, 1973). Fields et al. (1967) reported that a number of natural and synthetic double—stranded (d.s.) RNAs are capable of inducing interferon. In particular the d.s. RNA polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid (poly I·poly C) was highly effective in rodents as an interferon inducer (Field et al., 1967), as an antiviral agent (Parks and Baron, 1968; Worthington et al., 1973) and as an antitumor agent (Zelezinck and Bhuyan, 1969; Levy et al., 1969).