The mixed blessing of interferon

摘要

Soon after the identification of the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s, many research groups reported on using interferon, a protein that triggers an antiviral response, to treat HIV-infected patients. However, an early review of the literature concluded that there was no evidence that interferon therapy exerted "any beneficial effect on the underlying immune defects" and that, in any case, many patients with advanced HIV-induced immunosuppression already exhibited elevated levels of interferon before its administration. But on page 601 of this issue, Sandler et al. report intriguing findings on interferons in HIV infection. They show that administering the interferon IFNa2a to rhesus macaques before exposure to simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) prevented systemic viral infection, whereas treatment with an antagonist of the interferon receptor led to catastrophic infection. But they also find that prolonged exposure to interferon has a detrimental effect.