IFNA1 and infection: The mRNA expression of IFN-α increases with the progression of HSV-2 infection, showing the highest fold change at the 24 hpi time point (Figure 1A), whereas IFN-β exhibited an earlier and more robust upregulation, with statistically significant elevation as early as 6 h post-infection, reaching a maximum 8 × 104 fold change at 8 hpi and reduction to 3 × 104 fold change at 24 hpi indicating release of IFN-β (Figure 1B).