Abstract
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Without approved antiviral therapeutics or vaccines to this ongoing global threat, type I and type III interferons (IFNs) are currently being evaluated for their efficacy. Both the role of IFNs and the use of recombinant IFNs in two related, highly pathogenic coronaviruses, SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, have been controversial in terms of their protective effects in the host. In this review, we describe the recent progress in our understanding of both type I and type III IFN-mediated innate antiviral responses against human coronaviruses and discuss the potential use of IFNs as a treatment strategy for COVID-19.
Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Publication types
- Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
- Review
MeSH terms
- Animals
- Antiviral Agents / pharmacology
- Betacoronavirus / physiology*
- COVID-19
- Coronavirus Infections / drug therapy
- Coronavirus Infections / immunology*
- Coronavirus Infections / pathology
- Coronavirus Infections / virology
- Humans
- Immune Evasion
- Interferon Lambda
- Interferon Type I / genetics
- Interferon Type I / immunology*
- Interferon Type I / pharmacology
- Interferons / genetics
- Interferons / immunology*
- Interferons / pharmacology
- Pandemics
- Pneumonia, Viral / drug therapy
- Pneumonia, Viral / immunology*
- Pneumonia, Viral / pathology
- Pneumonia, Viral / virology
- Recombinant Proteins / pharmacology
- SARS-CoV-2
- Signal Transduction
Substances
- Antiviral Agents
- Interferon Type I
- Recombinant Proteins
- Interferons
- Interferon Lambda