In vitro studies on interferon-inducing capacity and sensitivity to IFN of human foamy virus.

We demonstrate in this article that human foamy virus (HFV) fails to induce interferon (IFN) production in two different human tissue culture cell lines: U373-MG and AV3. We also show the effect of human alpha-, beta- and gamma IFN on the multiplication cycle of HFV. Treatment of cells with 100 IU/ml of any IFN led to strong inhibition of an HFV-induced cytopathic effect.