Low type I interferon response in COVID-19 patients: Interferon response may be a potential treatment for COVID-19

Interferons (IFN) are antiviral cytokines that mitigate the effects of invading viruses early on during the infection process. SARS-CoV and MERS induce weak IFN responses; hence, the clinical trials which included recombinant IFN accompanied with other antiviral drugs exhibited improved results in terms of shortening the duration of illness. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the type I IFN response in COVID-19 patients to determine whether it is sufficient to eliminate or reduce the severity of the infection, and whether it can be recommended as a potential therapy. Total RNA samples were converted to cDNA and used as templates to evaluate the gene expression levels of IFN regulatory factor (IRF)3 and IFN-β in COVID-19 patients or control. The results showed that IRF3 gene expression was upregulated ~250-fold compared with the negative samples. In contrast, IFN-β expression increased slightly in COVID-19 patients. Consistent with other coronaviruses, such as SARS-CoV and MERS, COVID-19 infection does not induce an efficient IFN response to reduce the severity of the virus. This may be attributed to an incomplete response of IRF3 in activating the IFN-β promoter in the infected patients. The results suggest IFN-β or α may be used as potential treatments.