ArticleEMBO molecular medicine2016
IFNλ is a potent anti-influenza therapeutic without the inflammatory side effects of IFNα treatment.
Article in EMBO molecular medicine, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 179 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
179 citing papers in PubMed, 238 citations in OpenAlex.
- Early Treatment with Pegylated Interferon Lambda for Covid-19.The New England journal of medicine · 2023Trial
- Peginterferon lambda for the treatment of outpatients with COVID-19: a phase 2, placebo-controlled randomised trial.The Lancet. Respiratory medicine · 2021Trial
- Peginterferon Lambda-1a for treatment of outpatients with uncomplicated COVID-19: a randomized placebo-controlled trial.Nature communications · 2021Trial
- IFN-λ fine tunes protective immunity during mucosal viral infection.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2026Article
- Interferon-λ inhibits immunopathology and boosts T cell-mediated immunity in a mouse model of mucosal viral infection.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2026Article
- Comparative analysis of host responses to Oropouche viruses in placental cell infection models.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2026Article
- Host-derived lactic acid disrupts IFN efficacy via antiviral inhibition and proinflammatory amplification.Nature communications · 2026Article
- IFNL3 reduces replication of CIRDC-associated viruses in canine airway epithelial cells.Virus research · 2026Article
- Deciphering interferon functions in avian influenza using receptor knockout models in the natural host.eLife · 2026Article
- Tonic and early interferons defend against respiratory viruses in primary human lung organoid-derived air-liquid interface cultures.Journal of virology · 2026Article
- Experimental models in immuno-oncology and their translational impact.Discover oncology · 2026Review
- Impaired early type I interferon responses to influenza virus infection in aged mice are associated with subsequent increased pulmonary inflammation.GeroScience · 2026Article
- Type I and III interferon responses restrict infection by tick-borne orthoflaviviruses through IFI6.Journal of virology · 2026Article
- CD4 T-cell platform for delivering interferons as an antiviral countermeasure with a focus on SARS-CoV-2.Molecular medicine (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2026Article
- Interferon-JAK-STAT Axis in Bone Metabolism.Current osteoporosis reports · 2026Review
- Dual Inhibition of PB2 and JAK2 for Influenza: A Strategy Combining Antiviral and Host-Directed Immune Modulation.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Differential host responses by the type I and III interferons in primary differentiated human nasal epithelial cells are a determinant of antiviral activity.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Article
- Mechanisms of Differential Signal Transduction by Interferon Lambda Receptor 1 Variants.Journal of innate immunity · 2026Article
- Hyperinflammation and immunomodulation in influenza, SARS-CoV-2 and syncytial respiratory virus infection in adults: from innate immune responses and biomarkers to clinical and therapeutic implications.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Review
- βNature communications · 2025Article
119 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Influenza A virus (IAV)-induced severe disease is characterized by infected lung epithelia, robust inflammatory responses and acute lung injury. Since type I interferon (IFNαβ) and type III interferon (IFNλ) are potent antiviral cytokines with immunomodulatory potential, we assessed their efficacy as IAV treatments. IFNλ treatment of IAV-infected Mx1-positive mice lowered viral load and protected from disease. IFNα treatment also restricted IAV replication but exacerbated disease. IFNα treatment increased pulmonary proinflammatory cytokine secretion, innate cell recruitment and epithelial cell death, unlike IFNλ-treatment. IFNλ lacked the direct stimulatory activity of IFNα on immune cells. In epithelia, both IFNs induced antiviral genes but no inflammatory cytokines. Similarly, human airway epithelia responded to both IFNα and IFNλ by induction of antiviral genes but not of cytokines, while hPBMCs responded only to IFNα. The restriction of both IFNλ responsiveness and productive IAV replication to pulmonary epithelia allows IFNλ to limit IAV spread through antiviral gene induction in relevant cells without overstimulating the immune system and driving immunopathology. We propose IFNλ as a non-inflammatory and hence superior treatment option for human IAV infection.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.