National Cancer Institute
U.S. National Institutes of Health | www.cancer.gov

NCI Home
Cancer Topics
Clinical Trials
Cancer Statistics
Research & Funding
News
About NCI
NCI Drug Dictionary
Page Options
Print This Page
More NCI Dictionaries
Dictionary of Cancer Terms

Glossary of Statistical Terms

NCI Dictionary of Genetics Terms

Terminology Resources
Quit Smoking Today
Search for
# A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z All

recombinant interferon beta
A recombinant protein which is chemically identical to or similar to endogenous interferon beta with antiviral and anti-tumor activities. Endogenous interferons beta are cytokines produced by nucleated cells (predominantly natural killer cells) upon exposure to live or inactivated virus, double-stranded RNA or bacterial products. These agents bind to specific cell-surface receptors, resulting in the transcription and translation of genes with an interferon-specific response element. The proteins so produced mediate many complex effects, including antiviral (the most important being inhibition of viral protein synthesis), antiproliferative and immune modulating effects. The recombinant therapeutic forms of interferon beta are interferon beta 1-a and interferon beta 1-b. Check for active clinical trials or closed clinical trials using this agent. (NCI Thesaurus)

US brand names:Betaseron
Rebif
Foreign brand names:Betantrone
Naferon
Abbreviation:IFN-B



Previous:recombinant interferon, recombinant interferon alfa, recombinant interferon alfa-2b, recombinant interferon alpha-1b, recombinant interferon alpha-2a
Next:recombinant interferon gamma, recombinant interleukin-1-alpha, recombinant interleukin-1-beta, recombinant interleukin-11, recombinant interleukin-12

A Service of the National Cancer Institute
Department of Health and Human Services National Institutes of Health USA.gov