Achievements - RHU COVIFERON

Publications 2 March 2026

Expanding the scope of human immunology in the .

The publishes molecular, cellular, and clinical studies of patients with inborn errors of immunity, or their phenocopies, including autoimmune and somatic disorders. A central tenet in the field is that the current range of genetic immunological disorders is only [...]

Publications 2 March 2026

Autoantibodies neutralizing type 1 interferons in two cohorts of people with HIV.

Autoantibodies (autoAbs) neutralizing type I interferons (IFN-I) markedly increase the risk of severe manifestations of some viral diseases. The prevalence of autoAbs neutralizing at least one IFN-I, specifically IFN-α2, IFN-β, and IFN-ω, in individuals from the Swiss human immunodeficiency virus [...]

Publications 2 March 2026

Autoantibodies neutralizing type I IFNs in a fatal case of H5N1 avian influenza.

Avian influenza A virus (IAV) H5N1 is an emerging threat of human pandemic. We describe a 71-year-old man who died of H5N1 pneumonia in Louisiana and whose blood contained autoantibodies neutralizing type I IFNs (AAN-I-IFNs), including the 12 IFN-α subtypes [...]

Publications 2 March 2026

Autoantibodies neutralizing type I IFNs in patients with fulminant herpes simplex virus hepatitis.

Fulminant viral hepatitis (FVH) is a devastating condition caused by hepatotropic viruses such as hepatitis A virus (HAV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and HSV-1/2. We studied 149 FVH patients (73 males and 76 females, aged 1-76) for blood autoantibodies (auto-Abs) [...]

Publications 27 January 2026

Type I IFN autoantibodies underlie chikungunya live-attenuated vaccine encephalitis.

Human autoantibodies neutralizing type I interferons (IFNs) have emerged as strong, common, and global determinants of a growing number of severe viral diseases, including hypoxemic viral pneumonia, arboviral encephalitis, and adverse reaction to the live-attenuated yellow fever virus (YFV) vaccine. [...]

Publications 9 January 2026

The OAS-RNase L pathway: Insights from experiments of nature.

The 2'-5' oligoadenylate synthetases (OASs) are type I interferon-inducible enzymes that, with ribonuclease L (RNase L), have been studied in the context of their coupled action as antiviral effectors. RNase L degrades host and viral ssRNA, affecting diverse cellular processes [...]

Publications 5 January 2026

Human inborn errors of the alternative NF-κB pathway.

Inborn errors of the "core" components of the alternative NF-κB pathway-NIK, IKK-α, RelB, and NF-κB2-underlie various T and/or B cell deficiencies, frequently associated with syndromic features, including ectodermal dysplasia and lymph node hypoplasia. Their impact on medullary thymic stromal cells [...]

Publications 5 January 2026

Auto-Abs against type I IFNs: Strong, common, and global determinants of severe arboviral diseases.

Human-tropic pathogenic arboviruses are spreading worldwide. There is immense interindividual clinical variability following infection with any arbovirus. Autoantibodies (auto-Abs) neutralizing antiviral type I IFNs (AAN-I-IFN) can underlie a small but growing number of severe arboviral diseases, whether transmitted by ticks [...]

Publications 19 December 2025

and genetic variants enhance inflammatory responses to SARS-CoV-2.

Recessive deficiency in 2',5'-oligoadenylate synthetase (OAS) or RNase L can cause systemic inflammation in children with SARS-CoV-2 infection, but its role in adult respiratory disease is unclear. We analyzed rare variants and the common rs10774671 polymorphism in 342 [...]

Publications 27 November 2025

Deleterious variants in the autophagy-related gene RB1CC1/FIP200 impair immunity to SARS-CoV-2.

The clinical outcome of SARS-CoV-2 infection spans from asymptomatic viral elimination to lethal COVID-19 pneumonia, which is due to type I interferon (IFN) deficiency in at least 15-20% of cases. We report two unrelated male patients with critical COVID-19 who are [...]