An investigation was done to examine the role of IFN in viral persistence at the cellular level. For this purpose two types of persistent infections were chosen. The first type was cell lines which contained hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA (PLC/PRF/5 and Hep 3B cells) uninfected control hepatoma cells, (Mahlavu,
HA22T and Hep G2 cells) or simian virus 40 (SV40) DNA (C2, C6,
Cll cells) and control uninfected (CV-1 cells). In the second type of infection Vero cells persistently infected with SSPE or Sendai virus were used.
