Interferon-alpha position in combating with COVID-19: A systematic review

The newborn coronaivus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has become the foremost concern of health system worldwide. Interferon typeI (IFN-I) are among the well-known antiviruses. Hence IFN-alpha have gained much attention as a treatment for COVID-19 recently. To sum up the efficiency of IFN-alpha against COVID-19, we searched PubMed, SCOPUS, and EMBASE, from the date of genesis to the 1st of October 2020. Discharge from hospital and virus clearance considered as primary and secondary outcomes, respectively. We compared the aforementioned outcomes of patients treated with standard care protocol and the patients treated with IFN-alpha in addition to standard care protocol. Out of 356 identified records, 14 studies were subjected for full-text screening. Finally, a systematic review was performed with inclusion of five studies. Majority of the participants were males (ranged from 43.50% to 90.0%). We found that time of viral clearance and polymerase chain reaction negative (days) in most studies were decreased in the INF-alpha + standard care group. The mean days of virus's clearance in INF-alpha group and standard group reported 27.3 and 32.43. Likewise, the average days of hospitalization was found also lower in INF-alpha group (18.55 vs. 24.36). This study provides a stand to conclude that early administration of INF-alpha may be accounted as a promising treatment of COVID-19.

Automated summary

IFN-alpha may have potential advantages in treating COVID-19, as the study results show that it can reduce the time for virus clearance and hospitalization, making it a promising treatment option.