Coronavirus MHV-A59 causes upregulation of interferon-beta RNA in primary glial cell cultures.

Infection of mice with coronavirus mouse hepatitis virus strain MHV-A59 causes focal acute encephalitis, hepatitis and chronic demyelinating disease. To investigate host interferon (IFN) response to viral infection within the brain, RNA was extracted from A59-or MHV-2- infected and mock-infected primary astrocyte cultures from newborn mice, RT-PCR amplified RNA with primers specific for the various IFNs, transferred to nylon membranes and hybridized with IFN specific digoxigenin-labeled probes. Infection of primary astrocyte cultures from newborn mice with either A59 or MHV-2 caused upregulation of IFN-beta RNA, but not IFN-gamma or IFN-alpha. Thus, brain astrocytes are capable of producing a local IFN-beta response upon infection with MHV. The response of the other IFNs following MHV infection may be derived from inflammatory cells.