Abstract
As we approach the 50th anniversary of the publications describing the discovery of interferon, it is appropriate to look back at some of the trials and tribulations marking the early days of interferon research. This brief chapter, drawn largely from the author’s own experiences, relates how progress was achieved in some key areas of interferon research in the 1960s and 1970s despite the lack of analytical tools that had become available only after the successful cloning of interferon genes. One of the topics discussed concerns the evolution of the idea that interferon synthesis is controlled both at transcriptional and posttranscriptional levels. I also recount some of the early work that led to the identification of IFN-α and IFN-β as the two major type I interferon species.
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© 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Vilcek, J. (2007). Interferon Research BC (Before Cloning). In: Pitha, P.M. (eds) Interferon: The 50th Anniversary. Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology, vol 316. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-71329-6_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-71329-6_2
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-71328-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-71329-6
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