Patient's question:
Hello, my son is over 3 years old. In the past three weeks, he has had repeated colds and coughs. In the past two days, he also has a fever. Someone suggested injecting interferon. Is this advisable? What are the main effects of interferon?Doctor's answer:
InterferonA class of biologically active glycoproteins produced by the action of inducers such as viruses on host cells. Interferons have activities such as antiviral, antitumor, and immune regulation, and were discovered by Isaacs and Lindenmann in 1957 while studying the interference phenomenon of viruses. It has now been found that there are various types of interferons in the human body, with α-interferon being particularly typical, which can be produced by stimulating white blood cells with Sendai virus; β-interferon can be produced by stimulating fibroblasts with polyribonucleotides; γ-interferon is produced by lymphocytes under antigen stimulation. Interferons have strong antiviral activity, and one type of interferon can inhibit the proliferation of multiple viruses, making them a broad-spectrum antiviral drug in medicine.
Interferons can treat common viral diseases such as hepatitis and influenza, and also have the effect of inhibiting cancer cell proliferation, and have been applied in the treatment of various cancers such as breast cancer and bone marrow cancer. As an important drug for treating viruses and cancer, interferons can be prepared industrially from plasma rich in white blood cells or produced through microbial fermentation, but the yield is very low. Currently, genetic engineering technology has been successfully used to produce interferons, which has opened up broad prospects for further popularizing and applying interferons in the treatment of diseases.