ArticleOncotarget2017
Azithromycin augments rhinovirus-induced IFNβ via cytosolic MDA5 in experimental models of asthma exacerbation.
Article in Oncotarget, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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
25 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- The efficacy and safety of long-term add-on treatment of azithromycin in asthma: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Medicine · 2019Pooled it
- Azithromycin enhances epithelial antiviral immunity in uncontrolled asthma: results from the AZIMUNE randomised controlled trial.The European respiratory journal · 2026Trial
- Recent advances in the prevention and treatment of respiratory syncytial virus disease.The Journal of general virology · 2025Review
- Effects ofFrontiers in allergy · 2025Article
- Repurposing clinically available drugs and therapies for pathogenic targets to combat SARS-CoV-2.MedComm · 2023Review
- Review
- Synergistic Effects of Azithromycin and STING Agonist Promote IFN-I Production by Enhancing the Activation of STING-TBK1 Signaling.Journal of experimental pharmacology · 2023Article
- Article
- Antiviral effects of azithromycin: A narrative review.Biomedicine & pharmacotherapy = Biomedecine & pharmacotherapie · 2022Review
- Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin used alone or combined are not effective against SARS-CoV-2 ex vivo and in a hamster model.Antiviral research · 2022Article
- COVID-19 infection and liver injury: Clinical features, biomarkers, potential mechanisms, treatment, and management challenges.World journal of clinical cases · 2021Review
- Interferon-inducer antivirals: Potential candidates to combat COVID-19.International immunopharmacology · 2021Review
- Targeted Mitochondrial Therapy With Over-Expressed MAVS Protein From Mesenchymal Stem Cells: A New Therapeutic Approach for COVID-19.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2021Article
- Imiquimod Boosts Interferon Response, and Decreases ACE2 and Pro-Inflammatory Response of Human Bronchial Epithelium in Asthma.Frontiers in immunology · 2021Article
- Challenges in COVID-19 drug treatment in patients with advanced liver diseases: A hepatology perspective.World journal of gastroenterology · 2020Review
- COVID-19 and Possible Pharmacological Preventive Options.Journal of clinical medicine research · 2020Review
- Can endolysosomal deacidification and inhibition of autophagy prevent severe COVID-19?Life sciences · 2020Review
- Azithromycin and glucosamine may amplify the type 1 interferon response to RNA viruses in a complementary fashion.Immunology letters · 2020Review
- Azithromycin: The First Broad-spectrum Therapeutic.European journal of medicinal chemistry · 2020Review
- Azithromycin: The First Broad-spectrum Therapeutic.Journal of translational autoimmunity · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Deficient production of anti-viral interferons (IFNs) may be involved in causing viral-induced asthma exacerbations. Hence, drugs inducing lung IFN production would be warranted. Azithromycin may reduce asthma exacerbations but its modus operandi is unknown. Here, we investigated if azithromycin induces IFNβ expression in vitro in rhinovirus-infected bronchial epithelial cells from asthmatic donors and in vivo in our allergic inflammation-based mouse model of viral stimulus-induced asthma exacerbations. Azithromycin dose-dependently augmented viral-induced IFNβ expression in asthmatic, but not in healthy bronchial epithelial cells. The effect negatively correlated with viral load. Knockdown of MDA5 and RIG-I by siRNA showed involvement of MDA5 but not RIG-I in azithromycin's IFN-inducing effects in vitro. In vivo azithromycin induced IFNβ protein, restoring a reduced lung IFN response exclusively in allergic exacerbating mice. This was associated with induction of interferon-stimulated genes and MDA5, but not RIG-I. We suggest that clinically relevant concentrations of azithromycin produce MDA5-dependent, anti-viral, IFN-inducing effects in bronchial epithelium distinctly from asthmatic donors. Similarly, azithromycin induced MDA5-associated IFN in virally stimulated lungs in vivo exclusively in allergic mice. Effects of azithromycin and MDA5-active drugs on viral-induced exacerbations deserve further research.
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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.