interferon Biol.
(ɪntəˈfɪərɒn)
[f. interfere v. + -on.]
A protein released by an animal cell, usu. in response to the entry of a virus, which has the property of inhibiting further development of viruses of any kind in the animal (or in others of the same species).
| 1957 Isaacs & Lindenmann in Proc. R. Soc. B. CXLVII. 263 To distinguish it from the heated influenza virus we have called the newly released interfering agent ‘interferon’. 1961 New Scientist 13 July 81/1 It looks as if..interferon is capable of blocking the multiplication of virtually all the animal viruses that have been tested. 1961 Lancet 23 Sept. 680/2 Recently there has been growing evidence that interferon may play an important part in recovery from virus infections. 1963 Ann. Reg. 1962 393 The investigation of Interferon, a chemical substance produced in men and animals and believed to act as the body's first line of defence against a wide range of virus infections, passed a critical stage in May 1962. 1968 B. D. Davis et al. Princ. Microbiol. & Immunol. IV. xxvi. 789 Purified interferons from various sources consist of small proteins usually stable at low pH... Interferons are not virus-specific but cell-specific in both their production and their effects. 1970 Passmore & Robson Compan. Med. Stud. II. xviii. 109/2 Interferon has many of the properties of an ideal antiviral agent but its present clinical applications are limited by difficulties associated with the production of large quantities of purified human interferon and the assessment of its activity in man. |