title: A practitioner's guide to interferon.
abstract: The discovery and subsequent development of interferon as an anti-viral, ant-cancer therapeutic agent may well be a major milestone in the history of medical therapeutics. The results of the limited clinical trials available offer great promise for this biological agent. Only time, with large scale clinical trials, will serve to evaluate the true benefit of this modality of therapy. In the interim it is most desirable that the prcticing allergist-immunologist maintain an awareness of the use and mens of production of interferon so that he has available at his descretion a therapeutic modality for possible use in cases that have drastic, very poor or no therapeutic alternatives, remembering that each case add to the compendium of clinical knowledge.
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D000998:Antiviral Agents; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D006801:Humans; D007372:Interferons / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007962:Leukocytes; D008263:Macrophage Migration-Inhibitory Factors / Q000494:pharmacology; D008264:Macrophages / Q000276:immunology; D008970:Molecular Weight; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D000998:Antiviral Agents; D008263:Macrophage Migration-Inhibitory Factors; D007372:Interferons