Immunology of HIV infection, I: Biology of the interferons.

Overview

Interferons (IFN) are the prototypic biologic response modifiers. They comprise a multigene family of regulatory proteins and glycoproteins that affect a variety of cellular functions, including normal and neoplastic cell growth, immune reactivity, and host-parasite interactions. Their importance to basic cell biology and cellular immune defense, and their interactions with human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) on the molecular and cellular levels, form the basis for this review.