INTERFERON A-2-B HASTENS CURE OF COVID-19, INT’L TEAM SAYS

It has turned out that the human body produces a key element for curing the SARS-CoV2 virus that has caused the COVID-19 pandemic, and an international team led by Dr. Eleanor Fish, emerita scientist at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, University Health Network, and professor in the University of Toronto's Department of Immunology, has shown for the first time that an antiviral drug can help speed up the recovery of COVID-19 patients.

According to the new study, published on May 15, 2020 in Frontiers in Immunology, treatment with interferon(IFN)- α2b, which has been produced in Cuba for the last 40 years, may significantly accelerate virus clearance and reduce levels of inflammatory proteins in COVID-19 patients. It significantly reduced the duration of detectable virus in the upper respiratory tract, on average by about 7 days. It also reduced blood levels of interleukin(IL)-6 and C-reactive protein (CRP), two inflammatory proteins found in COVID-19 patients.

Interferons are a group of signaling proteins released by the human body in response to all viruses. As Dr. Fish explains, they are a "first line of defense." They target different stages of a virus's life cycle, inhibiting them from multiplying. They also boost an immune response by activating different immune cells to clear an infection. Some viruses, however, can block this natural defense mechanism. "But it is possible to override this block. If a virus blocks interferon production, then treating with interferon can offset this."

The researchers conducted this exploratory study on a group of 77 patients with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China. These patients were admitted to Union Hospital, Tongii Medical College, between January 16 and February 20, 2020. They represented moderate cases of the disease as none of the patients required intensive care or prolonged oxygen supplementation or intubation. #COVID19