IFNG and infection: However, the role of IFN-γ as an anti-flu viral cytokine is highlighted by (a) pretreatment with IFN-γ inhibited virus replication, (b) sequential administration of IFN-γ at early stage of the infection protected infected mice from death, and (c) IFN-γ protective effect is distinctive in studies with protocols involving vaccination/transfection followed by viral challenge [7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14].