Cited by 2,984interferon and immune responsesCOVID-19 Clinical Research StudiesSARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research

Impaired type I interferon activity and inflammatory responses in severe COVID-19 patients

Open access
Hadjadj, Jérôme, Yatim, Nader, Barnabei, Laura, Corneau, Aurélien, Boussier, Jeremy, Smith, Nikaïa, Péré, Hélène, Charbit, Bruno +22 more·2020·Science

Published version of a preprint

Abstract

Interferons interfere with lung repair: Interferons (IFNs) are central to antiviral immunity. Viral recognition elicits IFN production, which in turn triggers the transcription of IFN-stimulated genes (ISGs), which engage in various antiviral functions. Type I IFNs (IFN-α and IFN-β) are widely expressed and can result in immunopathology during viral infections. By contrast, type III IFN (IFN-λ) responses are primarily restricted to mucosal surfaces and are thought to confer antiviral protection without driving damaging proinflammatory responses. Accordingly, IFN-λ has been proposed as a therapeutic in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and other such viral respiratory diseases (see the Perspective by Grajales-Reyes and Colonna). Broggi et al. report that COVID-19 patient morbidity correlates with the high expression of type I and III IFNs in the lung. Furthermore, IFN-λ secreted by dendritic cells in the lungs of mice exposed to synthetic viral RNA causes damage to the lung epithelium, which increases susceptibility to lethal bacterial superinfections. Similarly, using a mouse model of influenza infection, Major et al. found that IFN signaling (especially IFN-λ) hampers lung repair by inducing p53 and inhibiting epithelial proliferation and differentiation. Complicating this picture, Hadjadj et al. observed that peripheral blood immune cells from severe and critical COVID-19 patients have diminished type I IFN and enhanced proinflammatory interleukin-6– and tumor necrosis factor-α–fueled responses. This suggests that in contrast to local production, systemic production of IFNs may be beneficial. The results of this trio of studies suggest that the location, timing, and duration of IFN exposure are critical parameters underlying the success or failure of therapeutics for viral respiratory infections. Science , this issue p. 706 , p. 712 , p. 718 ; see also p. 626

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1126/science.abc6027

Cites

33 of 33 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • People who cannot produce or respond to type I interferon face a higher risk of severe COVID-19.

    “Furthermore, humans deficient in producing or responding to type I interferon have an increased risk of severe COVID-19 (refs66–68).”
  • An early study in patients reported that type I IFNs were either not detected (particularly IFNβ) irrespective of disease severity or at lower levels (IFNα) in plasma mainly derived from patients with severe disease.

    “An early study in patients reported that type I IFNs were either not detected (particularly IFNβ) irrespective of disease severity or at lower levels (IFNα) in plasma mainly derived from patients with severe disease (Hadjadj et al., 2020).”

    From COVID-19 and the human innate immune system (2021) · cites this paper as Hadjadj et al., 2020

  • Proinflammatory genes upregulated in innate immune cells of severe or critical COVID-19 patients mainly belong to the NF-κB pathway.

    “Proinflammatory genes upregulated in innate immune cells in severe or critical patients mainly belonged to the NF-κB pathway”

    From COVID-19 and the human innate immune system (2021) · cites this paper as Hadjadj et al., 2020

  • IL-6 and TNF bioactivity in COVID-19 is supported by transcriptomic signatures in circulating immune cells.

    “Bioactivity of some of these mediators of inflammation, particularly IL-6 and TNF, has been validated by transcriptomics in blood-derived cells”

    From COVID-19 and the human innate immune system (2021) · cites this paper as Hadjadj et al., 2020

  • NF-κB-dependent proinflammatory mediators can drive accumulation of pathogenic neutrophils and macrophages in the lung, perpetuating cytokine and chemokine elevation in BALF and circulation.

    “Accumulation of NF-κB-dependent proinflammatory mediators can provoke an accumulation of pathogenic inflammatory neutrophils and macrophages in the lung”

    From COVID-19 and the human innate immune system (2021) · cites this paper as Hadjadj et al., 2020

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Hadjadj, J., Yatim, N., Barnabei, L., Corneau, A., Boussier, J., Smith, N., Péré, H., Charbit, B., Bondet, V., Chenevier-Gobeaux, C., Breillat, P., Carlier, N., Gauzit, R., Morbieu, C., Pène, F., Marin, N., Roche, N., Szwebel, T.-A., Merkling, S. H., Treluyer, J.-M., Veyer, D., Mouthon, L., Blanc, C., Tharaux, P.-L., Rozenberg, F., Fischer, A., Duffy, D., Rieux-Laucat, F., Kernéis, S., & Terrier, B.
Affiliations
  • Inserm (FR)
  • Sorbonne Université (FR)
  • Institut Pasteur, Laboratory of Dendritic Cell Immunobiology, INSERM U1223, Department of Immunology, F-75015 Paris, France.
  • Institut Pasteur (FR)
  • Department of Automated Diagnostic Biology, Hôpital Cochin, APHP, APHP-CUP, F-75014 Paris, France.
  • Université Paris Cité (FR)
  • Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
  • Hôpital Cochin (FR)
  • Université de Paris, Pharmacologie et Evaluation des Thérapeutiques Chez l’Enfant et la Femme Enceinte EA7323, F-75006 Paris, France.
  • Hôpital Necker-Enfants Malades (FR)
  • Université de Paris, Imagine Institute Laboratory of Immunogenetics of Pediatric Autoimmune Diseases, INSERM UMR 1163, F-75015 Paris, France.
Corresponding author
Terrier, Benjamin
Venue
Science
Published
2020-08-07
Volume
369
Issue
6504
Pages
718-724
ISSN
  • 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
  • 1095-9203
OpenAlex
W3041960835
Cited by
2,984
References
33
Citations by year
2026: 108 · 2025: 174 · 2024: 289 · 2023: 413 · 2022: 640 · 2021: 949 · 2020: 404 · 2019: 2 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 1
FWCI
210.87
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Science (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • medRxiv (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • HAL (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-10-IAHU-01, ANR-10-LABX-69-01)
  • Fonds Immunov
  • Institut Imagine
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › interferon and immune responses
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › COVID-19 Clinical Research Studies
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research
Keywords
COVID-19 pandemic, type I interferon, interferon lambda, interferon-alpha, interferon-beta, lung repair, lung epithelium, dendritic cells, secondary bacterial infection, p53, epithelial cell proliferation, interleukin-6, TNF-α, inflammation, antiviral immunity, influenza, respiratory viral infections
MeSH terms
Betacoronavirus, Interferon alpha-2, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Adult, Aged, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Humans, Immunity, Innate, Inflammation, Male, Middle Aged, Pneumonia, Viral, Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha, Signal Transduction, Interleukin-6, T-Lymphocyte Subsets, NF-kappa B, Critical Illness, Interferon-alpha, Interferon-beta, Coronavirus Infections, Viral Load, Gene Expression Profiling, Pandemics

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review