[A comparison of the efficacy of the anticlastogenic action of interferon and of the radiation-adaptive response].

Human lymphocytes, in the in vitro culture, exposed to X-rays (0.05 Gy) or treated with lymphoblastoid interferon (50 IE/ml) in phase G1 were less susceptible to induction of chromosome aberrations, of a chromosome type, by subsequent gamma-radiation (2 Gy) than those exposed to 2 Gy radiation only. The anticlastogenic effect of the pretreatment with interferon was considerably higher than that of preirradiation with X-rays which might be the result of the pleiotropic action of interferon in a cell.