The natural course of type I and III interferon (IFN) response in the respiratory tract of COVID-19 patients needs to be better defined. We showed that type I/III IFNs, IFN-regulatory factor 7 (IRF7), and IFN stimulated genes (ISGs), are highly expressed in the oropharyngeal cells of SARS-CoV-2 positive patients compared to healthy controls. Notably, the subgroup of critically-ill patients that required invasive mechanical ventilation had a general decrease in expression of IFN/ISG genes. Heterogeneous patterns of IFN-I/III response in the respiratory tract of COVID-19 patients may be associated to COVID-19 severity.

需要更好地定义 COVID-19 患者呼吸道中 I 型和 III 型干扰素 (IFN) 反应的自然过程。我们发现，与健康对照组相比，I/III 型干扰素、干扰素调节因子 7 (IRF7) 和干扰素刺激基因 (ISG) 在 SARS-CoV-2 阳性患者的口咽细胞中高表达。值得注意的是，需要有创机械通气的危重患者亚组的 IFN/ISG 基因表达普遍下降。COVID-19 患者呼吸道中 IFN-I/III 反应的异质性模式可能与 COVID-19 的严重程度有关。