How to Use interferon in a Sentence

interferon

noun
  • Lambda is a type of interferon that has effects specifically in the liver and lungs, not the whole body.
    Karen Weintraub, USA TODAY, 8 Feb. 2023
  • The virus transferred the gene to the moth cells, which duly secreted human interferon.
    Meredith Wadman, Science | AAAS, 3 Nov. 2020
  • Once a cell has become infected by a virus, the interferons alert the surrounding cells.
    Lucy Cooke, ajc, 3 July 2018
  • And when her team treated the organoids with drugs that blocked their cells from mounting an interferon response, the influenza viruses thrived.
    Byjon Cohen, science.org, 18 Nov. 2022
  • A year later, the company had figured out how to clone interferon, a signaling protein that could treat a form of leukemia.
    Damian Garde, STAT, 2 May 2018
  • The sheer number of interferon genes some bats have hints at a flexible, more nuanced response.
    Rachel Ehrenberg, Ars Technica, 3 July 2020
  • Half will also be injected with interferon, while the other half will get a placebo.
    Peter Fimrite, SFChronicle.com, 10 Aug. 2020
  • The researchers are now testing the inhaled interferon in Covid-19 people who are not sick enough to be hospitalized.
    NBC News, 12 Nov. 2020
  • The cheater does not have the ability to suppress its host’s defenses; in fact, its presence stimulates the release of interferons.
    Quanta Magazine, 15 Apr. 2019
  • This isn’t the case with patients that progress to severe disease, who often display signs of robust interferon response.
    William A. Haseltine, Forbes, 26 Apr. 2022
  • The bone marrow stem cells in this case come from a stock supply and are engineered to produce a protein that inhibits tumor growth called interferon-beta.
    Elie Dolgin, Discover Magazine, 22 July 2015
  • Both Beta and Delta drive down interferon in infected cells.
    BostonGlobe.com, 7 June 2021
  • In the case of severe flu, Casanova's team has identified two gene defects, one that limits the production of virus-fighting interferons and one not yet published.
    Claudia Wallis, Scientific American, 13 July 2018
  • At least 11 of the coronavirus’s 26 proteins interact with the interferon system, and many of those are mutated in Omicron.
    Megan Scudellari, Scientific American, 11 Feb. 2022
  • And the interferon shots hold even bigger promise, scientists said.
    Benjamin Mueller, New York Times, 8 Feb. 2023
  • The body naturally releases interferon when faced with an invader of some kind, such as a virus or other pathogen.
    NBC News, 12 Nov. 2020
  • In the early days of a coronavirus infection, an interferon boost might help your innate immune system contain the virus.
    Dhruv Khullar, The New Yorker, 11 Aug. 2021
  • The primary target is interferon, the protein that protects the infected cell and alerts surrounding cells to the presence of an invading pathogen.
    William A. Haseltine, Forbes, 22 Sep. 2021
  • Tests in mice and ferrets — which catch flu in very much the same way that people do — showed the interferons could not only kill this particular flu virus easily; the body also produced a lot of them in response to the vaccine.
    Maggie Fox, NBC News, 18 Jan. 2018
  • Eventually, the host’s interferon response overwhelms both types of viruses and kills them.
    Quanta Magazine, 15 Apr. 2019
  • Disabling interferon is like knocking down a castle’s gate.
    Liz Szabo, USA TODAY, 3 Mar. 2021
  • Interferon lambda, on the other hand, is a type III interferon.
    Annie Melchor, WIRED, 7 Jan. 2024
  • Interferon lambda, on the other hand, is a type III interferon.
    Annie Melchor, Quanta Magazine, 14 Nov. 2023
  • The primary agent in the activation of the innate immune system is interferon.
    William A. Haseltine, Forbes, 20 Sep. 2021
  • The drugs being tested include remdesivir, chloroquine and two drug cocktails used to fight HIV, lopinavir plus ritonavir and lopinavir, ritonavir, and interferon.
    Ken Alltucker, USA TODAY, 19 Mar. 2020
  • For years, scientists have known that interferon treatment can also lead to fatigue and depression in some patients.
    New York Times, 21 Jan. 2021
  • For example, one way that cells try to respond to infection is by making interferon, the alarm signaling protein.
    Benjamin Neuman, The Conversation, 2 Apr. 2020
  • One of the bats Brook and her fellow researchers studied was the Australian black flying fox, which has reserves of interferon on perpetual standby to fight infection.
    Cody Cottier, Discover Magazine, 28 Feb. 2020
  • Sensing the fake virus, the cell responded by producing interferon lambda.
    Annie Melchor, WIRED, 7 Jan. 2024
  • This contributes to the overproduction of interferon receptors seen in those with Down syndrome.
    Joaquin Espinosa, The Conversation, 5 June 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'interferon.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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