IFNA1 and viral infectious disease: Type I interferon, primarily IFN-α and IFN-β, serve as the first line of defense against viral infections by inducing the production of various antiviral proteins in host cells (Darnell et al., 1994; MacMicking, 2012; McNab et al., 2015; Xu et al., 2025; Yan and Chen, 2012).