干扰素是由一组糖蛋白分子所组成,分子量约为20,000。在抗病毒感染中干扰素是主要的保护机制之一,感染病毒的细胞仅产生很少量的干扰素。干扰素的产生具有生物种属的特异性,只有由人类产生的干扰素才对人有效。人类干扰素的产生主要有三个来源:(1)人二倍体的成纤维细胞,(2)许多淋巴母细胞,(3)白细胞,均已由健康供血者的血液中分离出来。另外,最近有报告称可从遗传工程中获得干扰素。 Interferons consist of a group of glycoproteins with a molecular weight of about 20,000. Interferon is one of the major protective mechanisms in antiviral infections, and virus-infected cells produce only small amounts of interferon. The production of interferon has the specificity of biological species, and only interferon produced by human beings is effective for human beings. There are three main sources of human interferon production: (1) human diploid fibroblasts, (2) many lymphoblasts, and (3) leukocytes, which have been separated from the blood of healthy donors. In addition, it has recently been reported that interferons can be obtained from genetic engineering.