ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the mechanism of infected cells caused to synthesize interferon. It deals mainly with the events following the derepression of the interferon gene, i.e., the transcription, translation, and release steps. It considers the events leading up to the derepression step. Alick Isaacs and D.C Burke observed that pretreatment of chick chorioallantoic membranes with chick interferon increased the amount of interferon synthesized on subsequent induction using infectious influenza virus. A general hypothesis was put forward by Burke in 1966 in which the mechanism of induction of interferon by viruses was divided into three stages. They are virus invasion, followed by dissolution of the virus and release of the inducer of interferon formation. Interaction of the inducer, either directly or indirectly, with the host cell genome, leading to derepression of the interferon gene; and the synthesis of interferon messenger ribonucleic acid, which then directs the synthesis of interferon and any other proteins involved in its production.
