Interferon beta(IFN beta) is type I interferon cytokine that plays a key role in the innate immune response to infection, developing tumors and other inflammatory stimuli. Signals via binding to high-affinity (IFNAR2) and low-affinity (IFNAR1) heterodimeric receptor, activating the canonical Jak-STAT signaling pathway resulting in transcriptional activation or repression of interferon-regulated genes that encode the effectors of the interferon response, such as antiviral proteins, regulators of cell proliferation and differentiation, and immunoregulatory proteins. IFNB1 is more potent than interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) in inducing the apoptotic and antiproliferative pathways required for control of tumor cell growth (By similarity)