{"doi":"10.1371/journal.pgph.0000231","title":"Interferon-based agents for current and future viral respiratory infections: A scoping literature review of human studies","abstract":"The interferon (IFN) system is a potent line of defense against viral infections. IFN-based agents already tested may be of use in COVID-19 or future viral respiratory outbreaks. Here we review the comparative efficacy, safety/tolerability, and future potential of IFN-based therapeutics. We reviewed human studies in which IFN or IFN pathway-interacting agents were used for viral respiratory infections. We identified 977 articles, of which 194 were included for full-text review. Of these, we deemed 35 articles to be relevant. The use of IFN-based agents for pre-exposure prophylaxis (n = 19) and treatment (n = 15) were most common, with intranasal (n = 22) as the most common route. We found IFN-α (n = 23) was used most often, and rhinovirus (n = 14) was the most common causative agent. Studies demonstrated mixed efficacy but generally positive safety and tolerability. Host-directed therapies, such as IFN or IFN inducers, are worthy of additional research to target viral respiratory infections lacking direct-acting antivirals.","journal":"PLOS Global Public Health","year":2022,"id":253390,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":22,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9592,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2022-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":882210,"name":"Emahlea Jackson","orcid":"0000-0002-3067-647X","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":898866,"name":"Mathias Lalika","orcid":"0000-0003-0229-9942","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":294672,"name":"David M. Koelle","orcid":"0000-0003-1255-9023","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":404274,"name":"Rena C. Patel","orcid":"0000-0001-9893-5856","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":898865,"name":"Aldina Mešić","orcid":"0000-0001-6425-3777","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":63,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T00:24:55.325369Z","pmid":"36962150","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}