About IFIH1
IFIH1 encodes MDA5 which is an intracellular sensor of viral RNA that triggers the innate immune response. Sensing RNA length and secondary structure, MDA5 binds dsRNA oligonucleotides with a modified DExD/H-box helicase core and a C-terminal domain, thus leading to a proinflammatory response that includes interferons. It has been shown that Coronaviruses (CoVs) as well as various other virus families, are capable of evading the MDA5-dependent interferon response, thus impeding the activation of the innate immune response to infection. MDA5 has also been shown to play an important role in enhancing natural killer cell function in malaria infection. In addition to its protective role in antiviral responses, MDA5 has been implicated in autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases such as type 1 diabetes, systemic lupus erythematosus, and Aicardi-Goutieres syndrome[provided by RefSeq, Jul 2020]

About FITC
Fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) has an excitation peak at 495 nm and an emission peak at 519 nm. The name FITC is a misnomer in that the isothiocyanate is a reactive form of this dye. Once FITC is conjugated to an antibody, it is simply Fluorescein conjugated. FITC is one of the most widely used dyes for fluorescent applications, therefore most instruments come standard with a 488 nm laser and FITC filter set up. FITC is commonly conjugated to secondary antibodies and used in applications such as flow cytometry, immunocytochemistry, and immunohistochemistry. FITC is relatively dim, sensitive to photobleaching and it is susceptible to changes is pH. There are better performing alternatives to FITC, like Vio®Bright 515, Alexa Fluor™ 488, iFluor® 488, CF®488A and DY-488. FITC is a long-time generic dye with no sole manufacturer or trademark.