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cbc

2020 Blanco-Mellon

cbc Unmasking the stealth virus behind COVID-19 Scientists have discovered the pandemic-causing coronavirus is unique in short-circuiting the safest way our immune system kills off a virus, which could have implications for treating COVID-19 with interferon. Interferon describes a family of proteins produced by the body's immune system in response to an invading viral infection. As the name implies, interferon interferes with the virus's ability to copy itself. Interferon drugs are made in the lab and were used for years to treat hepatitis, a liver infection, as well as other diseases that involve the immune system, such as multiple sclerosis and some cancers. In May, researchers in Hong Kong published the results of their Phase 2 trial on fewer than 150 people who were admitted to hospital with mild or moderate COVID-19. Participants were randomly assigned to a combination of potential antivirals, including interferon, or placebo injections for two weeks. The findings lent support to the idea of continuing research efforts, including in Canada, t

2020 Blanco-Mellon Imbalanced Host Response to SARS-CoV-2 Drives Development of COVID-19 Here we compare the transcriptional response of SARS-CoV-2 with other respiratory viruses to identify transcriptional signatures that may underlie COVID-19 biology. These data demonstrate that the overall transcriptional induction to SARS-CoV-2 is aberrant. Despite virus replication, the host response to SARS-CoV-2 fails to launch a robust IFN-I and -III response while simultaneously inducing high levels of chemokines needed to recruit effector cells. Because a waning immune response would enable sustained viral replication, these findings may explain why serious cases of COVID-19 are more frequently observed in individuals with comorbidities. Taken together, the data presented here suggest that the response to SARS-CoV-2 is imbalanced with regard to controlling virus replication versus activation of the adaptive immune response. Given this dynamic, treatments for COVID-19 have less to do with the IFN response and more to do with controlling inflammation. Because our data suggest that numerous chemokines and ILs are elevated in COVID-19 patients, future efforts should focus on U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drugs that can be rapidly deployed and have immunomodulating properties.