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) neutralizing type I interferons (IFNs; IFN-α2, -β, -ω). Six of 16 (37.5%) HSV-triggered FVH patients carried such auto-Abs on admission, including three with a previously known autoimmune disease. These patients contrasted with 133 HAV- (n = 46) or HBV-triggered (n = 87) patients, none of whom had such detectable auto-Abs. Odds ratios for HSV-triggered FVH in individuals with auto-Abs ranged from 35.3 (95% CI: 13.0-96.2; P < 10-7) for those neutralizing only 100 pg/ml IFN-α/ω to 1,895 (CI: 448.5-8,002; P < 10-12) for those neutralizing both IFN-α and IFN-ω at 10 ng/ml. Over one third of HSV-triggered FVH cases in this international cohort were due to preexisting auto-Abs. This finding highlights auto-Abs against type I IFNs as a major determinant of HSV-FVH and paves the way for targeted preventive or therapeutic interventions.

DOI: 10.1084/jem.20251760, PMID: 41348319
Authors: Adrian Gervais, Astrid Marchal, Soraya Boucherit, Anthony Abi Haidar, Lucy Bizien, Ahmet Yalcinkaya, Ella Sandström, Xiao-Fei Kong, Emmanuel Jacquemin, Olivier Bernard, Dominique Debray, Florence Lacaille, Philippe Ichai, Cigdem Arikan, Etienne Javouhey, Bertrand Roquelaure, Frédéric Gottrand, Francesca Trespidi, Veronica Codullo, Lorenzo Cavagna, Nicolas Schleinitz, Mohamed Bousfiha, Naima Amenzoui, Ahmed Aziz Bousfiha, Sofie E Jørgensen, Nanna Mørk, Trine H Mogensen, Paul Bastard, Anne Puel, Alessandro Borghesi, Jody A Rule, William M Lee, Nils Landegren, Aurélie Cobat, Jean-Laurent Casanova, Emmanuelle Jouanguy