Can Interferons, the Frontline Protectors of the Body, Beat COVID-19?
Synthetic interferons administered prior and right after a COVID-19 contagion may tame the virus before it results in severe illness.
In end-April, the test result of Valerie McCarthy, identified as Patient 16, confirmed that her relentless fatigue and thrashing headaches were results of COVID-19.
She was not confined at a hospital, but the next day, according to reports from Science, a Stanford University Medical Center nurse gave this marathon runner "an injection that had a placebo or the natural virus fighter: interferon."
52-year-old McCarthy was then in a clinical test that, was looking forward to helping fill a considerable gap in COVID-19 treatments.
Reports have it that doctors did not have drugs that, administered early, have proven to avoid contagion or help combat the virus before it stays.
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2 Scientifically Verified Treatments
Up to now, there are two scientifically-verified COVID-19 treatments currently showing efficacy in seriously sick and hospitalized patients. These treatments are remdesivir and dexamethasone.
Nevertheless, a small burst of recent research suggests that COVID-19 does several of its fatal work by incapacitating "interferons," powerful proteins that are the own frontline protectors of the body against invasion of the virus.
Consequently, synthetic interferons administered prior and right after contagion may tame the virus before it results in severe illness.
First-Time Proposal for the Use of Interferons for COVID-19 Treatment
In the latter part of May, reports came out highlighting researchers who had increasingly turned to "already-approved drugs" as the pandemic had proven to be a "formidable foe."
Until now, scientists have been diligently working on vaccines and new medicines, although this science needs so much time, particularly when battling with a novel illness.
For the first time in May, an international team of scientists has recommended treatment of the virus "with interferons."
These are a type of antiviral medicine that has been clinically used for years already. In limited, non-randomized research which Frontiers in Immunology published, the group of researchers presented that interferons considerably augmented "viral clearance," and lessened levels too, of inflammatory proteins in patients of COVID-19 who were moderately ill.
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Targeting Different Life Cycle Stages of the Virus
According to medical research, interferons are targeting different stages of the life cycle of a virus, hindering them from reproducing.
More so, the drugs boost immune reaction as well, through activation of various immune cells to contribute to the clearing of contagion.
Furthermore, the research team thought of treating COVID-19 patients with interferons following demonstration of the drug's therapeutic advantages during the 2002 SARS outbreak.
Instead of developing virus-particular antiviral for every new outbreak of the virus, according to an emerita scientist, Eleanor Fish, from Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, "I would argue that we should consider" as the "first responders, interferons when it comes to treating the virus."
Fish, also the study author added, interferons have been accepted and authorized for clinical use for many years already. Therefore, this strategy, she elaborated, would be to have the drug repurposed to clear out acute virus contagions.
The said research assessed more than 70 patients with moderate symptoms of COVID-19 who were confined at the hospitals in Wuhan China from January 16 to February 20 this year.
Relatively, the findings suggested interferons which fast-tracked viral clearance by "7.6 days," compared to other drugs.
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Jul 10, 2020 07:40 AM EDT
