Year: 1978
Type: article
Abstract: It was discovered by Alec Isaacs, in England in about 1957.He was investigating the phenomenon of viral interference and came upon interferon; subsequent research established that interferon is a protein elaborated by animal cells, that it has anti-viral activity, and that it is usually species-specific.He also determined how to initiate anti-viral activity by applying interferon to cells in culture and to animals. Editor:Is interferon virus-specific?No, interferon does not act directly on viruses; rather, it in duces host cell resistance to the virus, and this resistance ap plies to a wide range of biologically dissimilar viruses.The mechanism of its action is unclear, though it is thought by many people that it has an effect on the translation of viral genetic information â€"¿ specifically, it seems to inhibit viral protein synthesis.Others have found evidence suggesting that interferon af fects the production of viral messenger RNA.Still another hypothesis places the inhibiting activity at the assembly stage of viral replication.The implication of these findings is that interferon inhibits virus replication by a number of different Dr.
Author: Robert M. Friedman M.D.
Institution: National Institutes of Health
Language: English
Subfield: Immunology
Field: Immunology and Microbiology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $4,330
OpenAlex ID: W1623854637