RE: RE: Major study into severe Covid-19 (N=2244)11 Dec 2020 19:04
Interferons are canonical host antiviral signalling mediators, and
stimulate release of many essential components of the early host
response to viral infection.30 Consistent with a beneficial role for type
I interferons, increased expression of the interferon receptor subunit
IFNAR2 reduced the odds of severe Covid-19 with Mendelian randomi?sation discovery p = 0.0043 (7 tests); replication p = 7.5 × 10-4 (1 test).
Within the assumptions of Mendelian randomisation, this represents
evidence for a protective role for IFNAR2 in Covid-19. Rare loss-of?function mutations in IFNAR2 are associated with severe Covid-1912 and
many other viral diseases.31,32 This suggests that adminstration of inter?feron may reduce the probability of critical illness in Covid-19, but our
evidence cannot distinguish when in illness such a treatment may be
effective. Exogenous interferon treatment did not reduce mortality in
hospitalised patients in a large scale clinical trial,33 suggesting that this
genetic effect may be mediated during the early phase of disease when
viral load is high