Interferon- therapy prolongs survival in rhesus macaque models of ebola and marburg hemorrhagic fever

There is a clear need for novel, effective therapeutic approaches to hemorrhagic fever due to filoviruses. Ebola virus hemorrhagic fever is associated with robust interferon (IFN)- production, with plasma concentrations of IFN- that greatly (60- to 100-fold) exceed those seen in other viral infections, but little IFN- production. While all of the type I IFNs signal through the same receptor complex, both quantitative and qualitative differences in biological activity are observed after stimulation of the receptor complex with different type I IFNs. Taken together, this suggested potential for IFN-therapy in filovirus infection. Here we show that early postexposure treatment with IFN-significantly increased survival time of rhesus macaques infected with a lethal dose of Ebola virus, although it failed to alter mortality. Early treatment with IFN- also significantly increased survival time after Marburg virus infection. IFN- may have promise as an adjunctive postexposure therapy in filovirus infection.