IFNB1 and viral infectious disease: Interestingly, fibroblast interferon or interferon-beta was initially administered intrathecally to patients with MS because of its antiviral activity and the hypothesis that MS was due to a viral infection.105 The baseline peripheral blood type 1 interferon gene signature predicts a poor therapeutic response to interferon-beta,101-104 implying that augmenting this type 1 interferon response therapeutically via the administration of exogenous interferon-beta is ineffective at controlling MS disease activity.