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Coronavirus infection suppressed with hepatitis medication

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Source: AP 2020

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TASS, May 15. Doctors from China and Canada successfully suppressed coronavirus infection with interferon alpha-2, one of the signal proteins of the immune system, which is now used in the fight against hepatitis C and cancer. The results of their experiments were published by the scientific journal Frontiers in Immunology.

“Interferons are the first line of defense of the body against any type of virus. Many pathogens, including coronaviruses, have learned to block their work. Our experiments have shown that the introduction of synthetic interferons into the patient’s body suppresses this effect, ”said Eleanor Fish, one of the authors of the study, professor at the University of Toronto (Canada).

Interferon Proteins – These are one of the key signaling molecules of the immune system. It produces these proteins in response to viral and bacterial infections. Interferons prevent viruses from multiplying in infected cells, and also make the immune system actively fight against pathogens.

In recent years, scientists have become interested in how to create synthetic analogues of interferons or make the body produce more of these proteins. Specialists use their man-made versions, in particular, to slow the development of multiple sclerosis and a number of other autoimmune diseases in which the natural synthesis of interferons is impaired, as well as to fight cancer and viruses.

Looking for a cure for COVID-19

For example, for several decades now, doctors have been using the synthetic version of interferon alfa-2 in order to combat chronic forms of hepatitis C and B, as well as some forms of blood and skin cancer. In March of this year, doctors from Cuba and the USA, having received some encouraging results in experiments on cell cultures, began to check whether this substance helps in the fight against a new type of coronavirus.

Fish and her Chinese counterparts began similar experiments back in January of this year, when an outbreak of coronavirus infection was just beginning to gain momentum in China. Their experiments involved 77 volunteers who were admitted to one of the hospitals in Wuhan with a moderate form of COVID-19 and agreed to be treated with an experimental drug.

Patients were divided into several groups, some of which received interferon, while others received a dummy or its combination with protein. Doctors constantly monitored how the state of volunteers changed, as well as the concentration of viral particles in their body.

As a rule, SARS-CoV-2 remains in the body of patients for about two dozen days from the moment of infection. However, synthetic interferon alfa-2 reduced this time by about a week. This effect, according to Fish and her colleagues, manifested itself among both young and elderly patients who usually carry COVID-19 especially hard.

Researchers specify that the positive results of these experiments still need to be tested on a larger number of volunteers, as well as on patients who suffer from the most severe variants of coronavirus infection. These experiments, as Fish and her team hope, will prove that synthetic interferon alfa-2 can be used to combat COVID-19.

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