biorxiv: Breakthrough! Type I interferon effectively suppresses SARS-CoV-2!

April 14, 2020 / / - The historic outbreak that is taking place in COVID-19 not only constitutes a global public health crisis, but also has devastating social and economic consequences.
the disease is caused by a newly discovered coronavirus, the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV-2).
, there is an urgent need to identify antiviral drugs to reduce the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recently, researchers from the Department of Pathology and the Institute of Human Infection and Immunology at the University of Texas School of Medicine published an article entitled "Potent Antiviral Activities of Type I Interferons to SARS-CoV-2 Infection" on the preprinted platform bioRxiv, indicating that SARS-CoV-2 is significantly sensitive to the treatment of recombined human interferon alpha and beta (IFN alpha/beta).
: BioRxiv researchers found that treatment with IFN-alpha at concentrations of 50 International Units (IUs) per milliliter significantly reduced viral titration in Vero cells.
1.35 IU / mL and 0.76 IU / m L for the treatment of Vero cells infected with SARS-CoV-2 virus with IFN-alpha and IFN-beta.
researchers believe these results suggest that SARS-CoV-2 is more sensitive to human type I interferon than many other human disease-caused viruses, including SARS-CoV.
, these experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of human type I interferon in suppressing SARS-CoV-2 infection, a finding that may provide a reference for future COVID-19 treatment options.
() Reference: Emily K. Mantlo et al. Potent Antiviral Activities of Type I Interferons to SARS-CoV-2. bioRxiv. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.02.02276.