Thread by @EricTopol

1. The early use of inhaled interferons is emerging as a promising strategy to prevent severe #COVID19: lines of support include mechanism, rare genomic variants, a multicenter retrospective report, and a small randomized trial

2. On mechanism, our innate immune response, first line of defense relies, at least in part, on the interferon response.
2 figures from @VirusesImmunity's terrific thread, and the link to it

https://twitter.com/VirusesImmunity/status/1285944893085491204

3. Yesterday's @JAMA_Current report of loss-of-function TRL7 rare variants in 4 young men from 2 independent families w/ severe #COVID19 connects with their impaired interferon response
Editorial @rplenge jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/…
Paper by @ahoischen et al jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/…

4. Multicenter report of inhaled interferon-alpha2b (Type1) showed benefit if given early, harm if late (opposite of pattern with dexamethasone)
cell.com/cell-host-micr… @cellhostmicrobe

5. A small randomized trial of inhaled beta interferon in 100 patients, only available via press release so far, but very encouraging
results synairgen.com/wp-content/upl…
and important caveats here, by @benjmueller
nytimes.com/2020/07/20/wor…

6. There are dozens of ongoing trials, an overview by @meredithwadman @ScienceMagazine science.sciencemag.org/content/369/65…
but if this holds up it will be the first class of drugs that can be given early in the course of an infection, fulfilling a major unmet need

2 points to add:
—a @pbleic thread on the biology of TLR7, interferons and another ? contributor for the⬆️ vulnerability in men

https://twitter.com/pbleic/status/1287002569324150785

—thinking about rapid #SARSCoV2 testing and early inhaled interferon to change the natural history of infections is exciting

I forgot to include this important, relevant study science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/ea… @ScienceMagazine
by @TerrierBen and colleagues
Deficient Type 1 interferon response correlation with clinical severity