How might a person's immune system be affected if a portion of the dna codes for interferons has mutated

The immune system will be susceptible to viral infections

Explanation:

The immune system is the body's primary defense against microbial attacks. One component employed by the immune system is INTERFERONS or IFs, which are one of the group of proteins called CYTOKINES that helps tackle viral attacks in the body by interfering with their replication process.

MUTATION is any change in the nucleotide sequence of a DNA. As we know that genes are expressed into proteins, likewise the interferon protein is encoded by a gene. If a mutation occurs that disrupts or changes the sequence of the interferon-encoding gene, this could lead to the formation of a different non-functional protein entirely or a defective interferon protein. Hence, interferon protein will lose its functionality and be unable to stop viral infection.

This will cause the immune system to be vulnerable to any form of viral infection as the primary defense against them has been compromised by mutation.