Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Meta-Analysis
. 2023 Jan 26:14:1069894.
doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1069894. eCollection 2023.

Efficacy of interferon alpha for the treatment of hospitalized patients with COVID-19: A meta-analysis

Mykhailo Buchynskyi  1 , Iryna Kamyshna  2 , Katerina Lyubomirskaya  3 , Olena Moshynets  4 , Nazarii Kobyliak  5   6 , Valentyn Oksenych  7 , Aleksandr Kamyshnyi  1
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Efficacy of interferon alpha for the treatment of hospitalized patients with COVID-19: A meta-analysis

Mykhailo Buchynskyi et al. Front Immunol. .

Abstract

Introduction: IFN-α intervention may block SARS-CoV-2 replication and normalize the deregulated innate immunity of COVID-19.

Aim: This meta-analysis aimed to investigate the efficacy of interferon IFN-α-containing regimens when treating patients with moderate-to-severe COVID-19.

Material and methods: PubMed, SCOPUS, and ClinicalTrials.gov were searched from inception to 15 January 2022. A systematic literature search was conducted by applying relevant terms for 'COVID-19' and 'interferon-α'. The primary outcome enclosed the all-cause hospital mortality. The secondary outcomes constituted the length of hospital stay; hospital discharge; nucleic acid negative conversion.

Results: Eleven studies are enclosed in the meta-analysis. No significant difference in the all-cause mortality rate was found between the study and control groups (OR 0.2; 95% CI 0.05-1.2; I2 = 96%). The implementation of interferon did not influence such outcomes as the length of hospital stay (OR 0.9; 95% CІ, 0.3-2.6; I2 = 91%), nucleic acid negative conversion (OR 0.8; 95% CI, 0.04-17.2; I2 = 94%). Nevertheless, IFN-α treatment resulted in a higher number of patients discharged from the hospital (OR 26.6; 95% CІ, 2.7-254.3; I2 = 95%).

Conclusions: Thus, IFN-α does not benefit the survival of hospitalized COVID-19 patients but may increase the number of patients discharged from the hospital.

Systematic review registration: www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero, identifier (CRD42022374589).

Keywords: COVID-19; IFN-α; SARS-CoV-2; interferon-α; mortality.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PRISMA flow diagram.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Risk of bias.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Forest plot mortality (random model).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Funnel plot mortality (in Supplementary Figures ).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Forest plot length of hospital stay.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Forest plot discharged from hospital.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Forest plot nucleic acid negative conversion.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. WHO COVID-19 weekly epidemiological update (2022). Available at: https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/weekly-epidemiological-update-on....
    1. Kamyshnyi O, Matskevych V, Lenchuk T, Strilbytska O, Storey K, Lushchak O. Metformin to decrease COVID-19 severity and mortality: Molecular mechanisms and therapeutic potential. BioMed Pharmacother (2021) 144:112230. doi: 10.1016/j.biopha.2021.112230 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Petakh P, Kamyshna I, Nykyforuk A, Yao R, Imbery JF, Oksenych V, et al. . Immunoregulatory intestinal microbiota and COVID-19 in patients with type two diabetes: A double-edged sword. Viruses (2022) 14(3):477. doi: 10.3390/v14030477 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wen W, Chen C, Tang J, Wang C, Zhou M, Cheng Y, et al. . Efficacy and safety of three new oral antiviral treatment (molnupiravir, fluvoxamine and paxlovid) for COVID-19:a meta-analysis. Ann Med (2022) 54(1):516–23. doi: 10.1080/07853890.2022.2034936 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Schoggins JW. Interferon-stimulated genes: What do they all do? Annu Rev Virol (2019) 6(1):567–84. doi: 10.1146/annurev-virology-092818-015756 - DOI - PubMed