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Abstract

Interferons were first discovered in 1957 by Isaacs and Lindenmann [1]. They are proteins produced by cells in response to virus infection, and they can confer resistance to attack by a wide range of viruses in a species-specific way. As soon as their importance in the regulation of immune responses as well as their involvement in the control of cell growth and differentiation had been recognised, the possibility of growth inhibition in cancer was suggested. Following the successful cloning of the interferon genes, in 1982 the first recombinant human interferons were produced on a commercial scale, allowing extensive research during the last ten years.

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References

  1. Isaacs A, Lindenmann J: Virus interference. I. The interferon. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London (Series B) 1957: 259–267

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© 1994 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Pummer, K. (1994). Introduction. In: Pummer, K. (eds) Biological Modulation of Solid Tumours by Interferons. ESO Monographs. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-78866-6_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-78866-6_1

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-78868-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-78866-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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