9.2.0 HOW DOES INTERFERON WORK?

Alpha interferon works differently in the various diseases it is used to fight. In hepatitis C the virus invades and destroys liver cells; interferon lowers the virus population to a level where it no longer causes injury. Interferon helps by stimulating immune cells that in turn repel the invasion. Some hepatitis patients don’t respond to interferon at all; others do, but some of them relapse when they stop taking it.