IFNB1 and viral infectious disease: Type I IFNs, which include IFN-α and IFN-β, play an important role in innate responses to viral infections by inducing an anti-viral state in virus-infected and uninfected cells as well as in bystander cells, interfering in the various stages of viral life cycle by mechanisms involving degradation of viral nucleic acids or inhibition of viral gene expression26–28.