Interferon Formation in the Body during Virus Infections and Its Pathogenic Role

Abstract

The first important investigations to study interferon formation and the role of this process in experimental influenza were carried out by Isaacs and Hitchcock [37]. They studied the dynamics of formation of interferon and antibodies and its relationship to the character of reproduction of the virus. By infecting mice with a sublethal dose of influenza A virus these workers found that interferon appears in the lungs from the 2nd until the 5th day and that its maximal titer coincides with the beginning of a decrease in the concentration of virus in the tissues. Since antibodies appeared much later, Isaacs and Hitchcock postulated that inhibition of reproduction of the virus in the respiratory organs was due to the accumulation of interferon.