PLoS ONE (Jan 2020)

A multi-center randomized prospective study on the treatment of infant bronchiolitis with interferon α1b nebulization.

  • Lina Chen,
  • Mingfang Shi,
  • Quanmin Deng,
  • Wenjun Liu,
  • Qin Li,
  • Piao Ye,
  • Xiahui Yu,
  • Benjin Zhang,
  • Yuxia Xu,
  • Xiaolan Li,
  • Yao Yang,
  • Min Li,
  • Yi Yan,
  • Zhe Xu,
  • Jing Yu,
  • Long Xiang,
  • Xiaojun Tang,
  • Guangping Wan,
  • Qiang Cai,
  • Li Wang,
  • Bo Hu,
  • Liang Xie,
  • Gen Li,
  • Lunyan Xie,
  • Xiaoyun Liu,
  • Chunyan Liu,
  • Li Li,
  • Lijie Chen,
  • Xiaobin Jiang,
  • Yana Huang,
  • Si Wang,
  • Jiang Guo,
  • Yan Shi,
  • Li Li,
  • Xiaofang Wang,
  • Zhiyong Zhao,
  • Yan Li,
  • Yanru Liu,
  • Qiang Fu,
  • Yan Zeng,
  • Yan Zou,
  • Dingyuan Liu,
  • Deyun Wan,
  • Tao Ai,
  • Hanmin Liu

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0228391
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15, no. 2
p. e0228391

Abstract

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BACKGROUND:The respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the main cause of bronchiolitis in infants and interferon (IFN) α is a commercial antiviral drug. The nebulization of IFN α1b could be a viable treatment method. In this study, the therapeutic effects and safety of IFN α1b delivery via nebulization in infant bronchiolitis were investigated in this multi-center prospective study. METHODS AND FINDINGS:Bronchiolitis patients admitted to 22 hospitals who met the inclusion criteria were enrolled and randomly allocated to four groups: control, IFN Intramuscular Injection, IFN Nebulization 1 (1 μg/kg), and IFN Nebulization 2 (2 μg/kg) groups. All patients were observed for 7 days. The therapeutic effects and safety of different IFN delivery doses and delivery modes were evaluated. Coughing severity change, as scored by the researchers and parents, between days 1 and 3 was significantly different between the IFN Nebulization 2 and control groups. Lowell wheezing score change between days 3 and 5 was significantly different between IFN Nebulization 1 and control groups. There were no significant differences among the four groups regarding the number of consecutive days with fever, three-concave sign, fatigue and sleepiness, and loss of appetite. There were no cases of severe complications, no recurrence of fever, and no regression of mental status. CONCLUSIONS:IFN-α1b could more effectively alleviate coughing and wheezing in bronchiolitis. IFN-α1b nebulization had significant advantages in shortening the duration of wheezing and alleviating coughing.