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[Preprint]. 2020 Apr 5:2020.04.02.022764.
doi: 10.1101/2020.04.02.022764.

Potent Antiviral Activities of Type I Interferons to SARS-CoV-2 Infection

Emily Mantlo  1 , Natalya Bukreyeva  1 , Junki Maruyama  1 , Slobodan Paessler  1   2 , Cheng Huang  1   2
Affiliations

Potent Antiviral Activities of Type I Interferons to SARS-CoV-2 Infection

Emily Mantlo et al. bioRxiv. .

Update in

Abstract

The ongoing historic outbreak of COVID-19 not only constitutes a global public health crisis, but also carries a devastating social and economic impact. The disease is caused by a newly identified coronavirus, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). There is an urgent need to identify antivirals to curtail the COVID-19 pandemic. Herein, we report the remarkable sensitivity of SARS-CoV-2 to recombinant human interferons α and β (IFNα/β). Treatment with IFN-α at a concentration of 50 international units (IU) per milliliter drastically reduces viral titers by 3.4 log or over 4 log, respectively, in Vero cells. The EC50 of IFN-α and IFN-β treatment is 1.35 IU/ml and 0.76 IU/ml, respectively, in Vero cells. These results suggest that SARS-CoV-2 is more sensitive than many other human pathogenic viruses, including SARS-CoV. Overall, our results demonstrate the potent efficacy of human Type I IFN in suppressing SARS-CoV-2 infection, a finding which could inform future treatment options for COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; Interferon; SARS-CoV-2; antiviral therapy; innate immune.

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Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:
Vero cells were infected by SARS-CoV-2 at MOI 1 or 0.01 for 1 hr. At different time points after infection, virus titers were determined by a TCID50 assay on Vero cells. The average of triplicates and Standard deviation are shown. Dotted line indicates the detection limit.
Figure 2:
Figure 2:
Vero cells were pretreated with human IFN-α or IFN-β (0, 50, 125, 250, 500, 1000 IU/ml) for 16 hours, and then infected with SARS-CoV2 for 1 hour at an MOI of 0.01. Viral inoculums were removed and replaced with fresh media containing listed concentrations of IFN-α or IFN-β. Media was collected at 22 hpi and titers were determined via TCID50 assay on Vero cells. The average of triplicates and Standard deviation are shown. Dotted line indicates the detection limit.
Figure 3:
Figure 3:
Vero cells were pretreated with human IFN-α or IFN-β (0, 1, 5, 10, 25, 50 U/ml) for 16 hours and then infected with SARS-CoV-2 at an MOI of 0.01. Viral inoculums were removed and replaced with fresh media containing listed concentrations of IFN-α or IFN-β. Virus titers at 22 hpi were determined via TCID50 assay. The average of triplicates and Standard deviation are shown. Dotted line indicates the detection limit. (*, P<0.05; **, P<0.01; n.s. not significant, one tail Student T test)
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