Binding levels and neutralization activity of anti-type 1 interferon autoantibodies peaked during acute coronavirus disease 2019 and markedly decreased thereafter. Most patients maintained some ability to neutralize type 1 interferon into convalescence despite lower levels of binding immunoglobulin G. Identifying these autoantibodies in healthy individuals before the development of critical viral disease may be challenging.
Keywords: COVID-19; IFN-α; IFN-ω; autoantibodies; convalescence.
Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America 2021.