Abstract
Interferons (IFNs) were originally identified by virologists who were looking for a virus-induced virus-inhibitory factor (1) and this induction-action relationship seemed to suggest that interferon’s reason for being was to inhibit viruses. This simple relationship was quite comforting for several years, but it then started to get more complex by the observations that IFNs could induce a number of alterations in cells besides inhibition of virus replication (2). Such “non-antiviral activities” of IFNs (3) were for several years dismissed as attributable to impurities in the usually relatively crude IFN preparations, but eventually it was substantiated that IFNs are potent inducers of a number of seemingly unrelated “pleotypic alterations” in various cells (4).
Chapter PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
References
A. Isaacs and J. Lindenmann, Virus interference. I. The interferon, Proc. Royal Soc. B 147: 258 (1957).
W. E. Stewart II, “The Interferon System,” Springer-Verlag, Vienna, Austria (1981).
W. E. Stewart II, L. B. Gosser, and R. Z. Lockart, Priming: a nonanti viral function of interferon, J. Virol. 7: 792 (1971).
W. E. Stewart II, E. DeClercq, P. DeSomer, K. Berg, C. A. Ogburn, and K. Paucker, Antiviral and non-antiviral activity of highly purified interferon, Nature 246: 141 (1973).
W. E. Stewart II, J. E. Blalock, D. C. Burke, C. Chany, J. Dunnick, E. Falcoff, R. M. Friedman, G. J. Galasso, W. K. Joklik, J. Vilcek, J. S. Youngner, and K. C. Zoon, Interferon nomenclature, Nature 286: 110 (1980).
W. E. Stewart II and D. K. Blanchard, Interferons: cytostatic and immunomodulatory effects, in: “Immunity to Cancer,” A. Reif and M. Mitchell, eds., Academic Press, New York (1985).
W. E. Stewart II, Heterogeneities of human interferons, in: “Biological Responses in Cancer,” E. Mihich, ed., Plenum Publishing Corporation, New York (1984).
S. B. Greenberg and Harmon, Clinical use of interferons: localized application in viral diseases, in: “Interferons and Their Applications,” P. E. Came and W. A. Carter, eds., Springer-Verlag, Berlin (1984).
W. E. Stewart II and S. E. Sulkin, Interferon production in hamsters experimentally infected with rabies virus, Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med. 123: 650 (1966).
J. P. Luby, W. E. Stewart II, S. E. Sulkin, and J. P. Sanford, Interferon in human infections with St. Louis encephalitis, Ann. Int. Med. 71: 703 (1969).
I. Gresser, Can interferon induce disease?, in: “Interferon 4,” I. Gresser, ed., Academic Press, London (1982).
B. Lebleu and J. Content, Mechanisms of interferon action: biochemical and genetic approaches, in: “Interferon 4, ” I. Gresser, ed., Academic Press, London (1982).
W. E. Stewart II, The natural recovery process from acute virus infection, in: “Selective Inhibitors of Viral Functions,” W. A. Carter, ed., CRC Press, Cleveland (1973).
H. Strander, K. Cantell, G. Carlstrom, S. Ingimarsson, P. A. Jakobsson, U. Nilsonne, Acute infections in interferon-treated patients with osteosarcoma: a preliminary report of a comparative study, J. Infect. Dis. 133: A245 (1976).
G. M. Scott, W. E. Stewart II, D. A. J. Tyrrell, K. Cantell, T. Cartwright, and V. G. Edy, Skin reactions to interferon inoculations are reduced but not abolished by purification, J. Interferon Res. 1: 79 (1980).
D. A. J. Tyrrell, Some thoughts on the clinical exploitation of interferon in infectious diseases, in: “Interferon 4,” I. Gresser, ed., Academic Press, London (1982).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1986 Plenum Press, New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Stewart, W.E. (1986). Interferons and Their Roles in Virus Infections. In: Szentivanyi, A., Friedman, H. (eds) Viruses, Immunity, and Immunodeficiency. University of South Florida International Biomedical Symposia Series. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2185-9_28
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2185-9_28
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-9286-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-2185-9
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive