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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.
Sec. Molecular Viral Pathogenesis
Volume 14 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2024.1464581
This article is part of the Research Topic Exploring SARS-CoV-2 Inflammatory Responses and Potential Targets for Treatment View all 3 articles

"Potential Protective Role of Interferon-Induced Protein with Tetratricopeptide Repeats 3 (IFIT3) in COVID-19"

Provisionally accepted
Mateus V. Castro Mateus V. Castro 1*Leonardo Moro Cariste Leonardo Moro Cariste 2,3,4Rafael Ribeiro Almeida Rafael Ribeiro Almeida 2,3,4Greyce Luri Sasahara Greyce Luri Sasahara 2,3,4,5Moníze Silva Moníze Silva 1Flávia Barrosa Soares Flávia Barrosa Soares 1Vivian Romanholi-Coria Vivian Romanholi-Coria 1Michel Satya Naslavsky Michel Satya Naslavsky 1Keity S. Santos Keity S. Santos 2,3,4Edecio CUnha-Neto Edecio CUnha-Neto 2,3,4Jorge Kalil Jorge Kalil 2,3,4Mayana ZATZ Mayana ZATZ 1*
  • 1 Human Genome and Stem Cell Research Center, Institute of Biosciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
  • 2 Laboratório de Imunologia, Instituto do Coração (InCor), LIM19, Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, (HCFMUSP), São Paulo, SP, Brazil
  • 3 Instituto de Investigação em Imunologia - Instituto Nacional de Ciências e Tecnologia-iii-INCT,, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
  • 4 Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, Departamento de Clínica Médica, Disciplina de Alergia e Imunologia Clínica,, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
  • 5 University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted a quest to understand why certain individuals remain uninfected or asymptomatic despite repetitive exposure to SARS-CoV-2. Here, we focused on six exposed females residing with their symptomatic and reinfected SARS-CoV-2 PCR-positive COVID-19 partners. Peripheral blood mononuclear cell samples from couples were analysed for poly (I:C)-induced mRNA expression of type I/III interferons and interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs). Remarkably, we found a significant upregulation of the ISG interferon-inducible protein with tetrapeptide repeats 3 (IFIT3) gene exclusively in exposed uninfected or asymptomatic females, suggesting a potential role in protective immunity against symptomatic COVID-19.

    Keywords: IFIT3, COVID-19, innate immunity, SARS-CoV-2, protection

    Received: 14 Jul 2024; Accepted: 07 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Castro, Cariste, Almeida, Sasahara, Silva, Barrosa Soares, Romanholi-Coria, Naslavsky, Santos, CUnha-Neto, Kalil and ZATZ. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Mateus V. Castro, Human Genome and Stem Cell Research Center, Institute of Biosciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
    Mayana ZATZ, Human Genome and Stem Cell Research Center, Institute of Biosciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.