Early IFN type I response: Larning from microbial evasion strategies.

•Type I interferon represents the first line of innate host defense against a number of invading pathogens that also instructs adaptive immunity.•Type I interferon induction downstream germ-line-encoded pattern recognition receptors triggers a signaling pathway that results in the expression of hundreds of IFN-stimulated genes with both direct anti-pathogen as well as immunomodulatory activities.•An inverse interference to escape at every step the IFN system is used by pathogens to eventually promote disease progression or establish a chronic infection.•Learning from bacterial and viral escape mechanisms may help in understanding how to cheat the pathogen and fit out the immune system to shift the balance in favor of the host.