IFNB1 and viral infectious disease: In addition to immunomodulation during viral infections, IFN‐β is also reported to have antitumor properties that include direct cytostatic (Kaynor et al., 2002) and proapoptotic (Juang et al., 2004) effects, as well as indirect effects such as anti‐angiogenesis (Streck et al., 2005; Xiao et al., 2012), immune stimulation (Wolpert et al., 2015; Yang et al., 2014), and drug sensitization (Kase et al., 1993).