IFNA17 and infectious disease: During 1980's several immunomodulating therapies such as IL-2 and INF-α were considered for standard medical treatments of disorders including cancer (e.g., renal cell cancer, leukemias, malignant melanomas), infectious diseases (e.g., HIV, HCV) and neural degeneration (multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) (117).