Is interferon effective after oral administration? The state of the art.

At present the evidence that interferon can be effective when administered by oral route is tenous and the purpose of this minireview is to focus attention on this problem. Interferon may act on the oral-associated lymphoid tissue and trigger a cascade of events leading to activation of the immune system with little or no presence of interferons in body fluids and lack of toxicity. If this is true, the oral administration could be the ideal route for the treatment of some viral diseases and immunodeficiencies.