Outbreaks of severe virus infections with the potential to cause global pandemics are increasing. In many instances these outbreaks have been newly emerging (SARS coronavirus), re-emerging (Ebola virus, Zika virus) or zoonotic (avian influenza H5N1) virus infections. In the absence of a targeted vaccine or a pathogen-specific antiviral, broad-spectrum antivirals would function to limit virus spread. Given the direct antiviral effects of type I interferons (IFNs) in inhibiting the replication of both DNA and RNA viruses at different stages of their replicative cycles, and the effects of type I IFNs on activating immune cell populations to clear virus infections, IFNs-α/β present as ideal candidate broad-spectrum antivirals.

可能导致全球大流行的严重病毒感染的爆发正在增加。在许多情况下，这些疫情都是新出现的（SARS 冠状病毒）、重新出现的（埃博拉病毒、寨卡病毒）或人畜共患病（禽流感 H5N1）病毒感染。在缺乏靶向疫苗或病原体特异性抗病毒药物的情况下，广谱抗病毒药物将起到限制病毒传播的作用。鉴于 I 型干扰素 (IFN) 在抑制 DNA 和 RNA 病毒复制周期不同阶段的复制方面具有直接抗病毒作用，以及 I 型 IFN 对激活免疫细胞群清除病毒感染的作用，IFNs-α /β 是理想的候选广谱抗病毒药物。