Effect of Rifampicin and Two of Its Derivatives on Cells Infected With Moloney Sarcoma Virus

Abstract

It is shown that rifampicin, and especially the related antibiotic 2',6'-dimethyl-N(4')-benzyl-N(4')- [desmethyl]rifampicin (DMB-rifampicin) can inhibit focus formation by Moloney sarcoma virus on BALB/3T3 tissue cultures. At 10 mug/ml DMB-rifampicin totally inhibits focus formation while reducing virus replication by at least a factor of fifty and cell proliferation by only a factor of three. These observations, taken together with those of others, suggest a role for an RNA-dependent DNA polymerase and the gene for its synthesis both in normal cell processes and in the transformation process.