Biomedical Research Foundation Academy Of AthensAcademy Of Athens
Research Highlights :Untuned antiviral immunity in COVID-19 revealed by temporal type I/III interferon patterns and flu comparison

Evangelos Andreakos and colleagues recently published a paper in Nature Immunology

The intensity of the symptoms of a significant number of patients with COVID-19, and the frequent development of acute respiratory failure by comparison to other viral infections has puzzled researchers from the beginning of the pandemic. With a publication at the leading international journal Nature Immunology, a research team led by BRFAA’s researcher Evangelos Andreakos now shows that this is largely due to the impaired antiviral defenses of the body.

In sharp contrast to influenza, the most common cause of pneumonia worldwide till now, infection with the coronavirus SARS-CoV2 in severe patients does not induce the timely and sufficient production of type I and III interferons, key mediators of antiviral immunity. Absence of this shield of our organism results in excessive activation of the inflammatory response which aims at dealing with the increasing infectious virus load but which also causes pneumonia and acute respiratory failure. Addressing this immune system default has therefore great potential therapeutically.

 


Untuned antiviral immunity in COVID-19 revealed by temporal type I/III interferon patterns and flu comparison
Galani IE, Rovina N, Lampropoulou V, Triantafyllia V, Manioudaki M, Pavlos E, Koukaki E, Fragkou PC, Panou V, Rapti V, Koltsida O, Mentis A, Koulouris N, Tsiodras S, Koutsoukou A, Andreakos E. Nat Immunol. 2020 Dec 4. doi: 10.1038/s41590-020-00840-x. Online ahead of print. PMID: 33277638

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