The role of interferon in viral infections

Abstract

Interferon, a product of mammalian tissues, was originally described as an antiviral agent over twenty years ago. Only in the past few years has evidence started to accumulate that interferon actually played a role in vivo in natural virus infections.Initially, evidence was accumulated showing that interferon could inhibit the replication of many viruses in vitro. The interferon, through induction of a second antiviral protein, could inhibit in vitro viral transcription or translation. Later, indirect evidence for an effect of interferon on in vivo viral infections was obtained by showing that (a) a temporal relationship existed between the appearance of interferon in viral infections and the progress of the infection and (b) treatment of virally infected animals with exogenous interferon or interferon inducer often resulted in less severe infections.The most recent and direct evidence for a role for interferon in natural viral infections involves the use of an anti-interferon globulin. In several cases, injection of the anti-interferon globulin into animals infected with a wide variety of viruses resulted in a severely altered course of infection. These studies suggest that interferon is directly involved in the progress of viral infections. The involvement of the interferon in the viral infections could be a direct effect of the interferon on viral replication, or an interaction of the interferon with other host defenses, such as the immune system.

Evaluating viral interference between Influenza virus and Newcastle disease virus using real-time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction in chicken eggs

“…24 hours is not sufficient time for Lasota to produce inhibition-level interferon to suppress the growth of H5N1. This fits precisely with one of the properties of interferon, viz that the time of induction of maximum interferon depends on the virulence of the strain [26]. However, for experiment 1 in this research, when AIV and NDV inoculations were made at the same time, interference always occurred in NDV.…”

Viral interference between H9N2-low pathogenic avian influenza virus and avian infectious bronchitis virus vaccine strain H120 in vivo

“…This result was in concordance with some studies that have been reported (Shengqiang et al, 2012), including the results in this study demonstrating the higher growth of the super-infecting virus. However, there are some reported studies that demonstrated contradictory findings in vitro, as it has been reported for the occurrence of AIV-NDV, Hepatitis B Virus-Hepatitis C virus and AIV-IBV interferences [32][33][34], showing that the pre-inoculated virus always induces a lower growth of the super-infecting virus [35].…”

Immunopathology

“…Interferon produced by antigen-stimulated T lymphocytes as a lymphokine (,,-interferon) differs from leukocyte (ex) and fibroblast (~) interferon with regard to several physical, chemical, biological, and antigenic properties (Youngnerand Salvin, 1973). The role of ex-and ~-interferon in viral infections and immunoregulation was recently reviewed by Sonnenfeld and Merigan (1979) and will not be discussed here. ,,-Interferon can be produced by sensitized animals or T lymphocytes of such animals after rechallenge with specific antigen (Babiuk and Rouse, 1976).…”

“…,,-Interferon production was Hot elicited by vaccinia virus antigen and was maximal in patients showing the longest interval before the next recurrence. ,,-Interferon has also been shown to have immunoregulatory properties (reviewed by Sonnenfeld and Merigan, 1979).…”