Expression data from infant nasal airway epithelial cells treated with IFN-lambda, poly(I:C), or both

Type III interferon, also known as interferon lambda (IFN-λ), is the newest addition to the IFN family. IFN-λ is primarily produced by the airway epithelium and curbs viral infections without triggering systemic pro-inflammatory cytokine responses1. Of the current IFN COVID-19 trials (as of 6/27/2020), four propose the use of IFN-λ. However, it remains to be determined whether IFN-λ induces ACE2 expression in the human airway epithelium. Using primary human nasal airway epithelium of young children, we employed RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays to examine for the first time the effects of IFN-λ and a viral mimic (poly I:C) on the expression of ACE2 and the global antiviral transcriptomic program.