Fig. 6

Experimental validation of IFN-I signaling. a Real-time PCR validation of IFI27 and BST2 in the interferon pathway and FOS in the MAPK pathway. IFI27 and BST2 are upregulated in patients with COVID-19. FOS is upregulated in hospitalized patients but downregulated in cured patients (N = 3 for critical, N = 3 for severe, N = 19 for moderate, N = 3 for mild, and N = 10 for cured patients with COVID-19 and 35 normal controls). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001; Student’s t-test. b Statistical significance of IFI27 immunofluorescence signal comparing COVID-19 and normal controls. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001. c Immunofluorescence staining of IFI27 in PBMCs of patients with COVID-19 and normal controls. d IFN-α concentration in serum of 257 patients with COVID-19 and 106 matched tested by ELISA, including of the severe and critical group (12.02 ug/mL ± 2.80, N = 68), the moderate group (23.99 g/mL ± 4.840, N = 133 patients), the mild group (20.29 ug/mL ± 7.732, N = 34 patients), and the cured group (9.637 ug/mL ± 1.184, N = 22 patients). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001; one-way ANOVA