ABSTRACT
Since an all-inclusive review of the interferon system is beyond the scope of this chapter, its purpose will be to present a general overview of interferons and the induction processes. Minus-stranded RNA viruses possess a transcriptase that generates complementary RNA in the absence of RNA replication; thereby enabling the production of double-stranded RNA and subsequent interferon induction despite UV inactivation. In studies comparing interferon induction by polynucleotides and viruses, different kinetics of induction have been observed. In addition to evidence on the molecular level in support of this hypothesis, it is attractive in that it better explains interferon induction by metabolic inhibitors than does the double-stranded RNA hypothesis. To dissect the importance of these promotor regions to normal interferon induction, genetic hybrids have been constructed. Mechanisms of a induction of interferons fall into two categories, classical and an immune induction.
