Transcript levels for IFN-alpha 1 and IFN-alpha 2 were equivalently induced in virus-infected U937 and U9-IIIB cells, indicating that a generalized derepression of cytokine gene expression did not occur as a consequence of HIV-1 infection.
HIV-1 infection of promonocytic U937 cells was used to examined induction of IFN-alpha/beta gene expression and to determine the inhibitory effects of IFN-alpha 2 and/or AZT on de novo HIV-1 infection, initiated either by coculture of virus-shedding U9-IIIB cells with uninfected cells or by incubation of U937 cells with virus-containing supernatants.