The Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) are reporting:
Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine have identified one way the Ebola virus dodges the body's antiviral defenses, providing important insight that could lead to new therapies, in research results published in the journal Cell Host & Microbe.
In work performed at Beamline 19ID at Argonne National Laboratory’s Advanced Photon Source, the researchers developed a detailed map of how a non-pathogenic Ebola protein, VP24, binds to a host protein that takes signaling molecules in and out of the cell nucleus.
Their map revealed that the viral protein takes away the host protein’s ability to carry an important immune signal into the nucleus. This signal helps activate the immune system's antiviral defenses, and blocking it is believed to contribute significantly to the virus’s deadliness.
Unfortunately, the report is shown in full above and there is no detail or further discussion in the linked article. It remains of interest, of course, because it shows that progress is being made in the effort to find an effective cure for the disease. Your thoughts?
[Editors Belated Comment: nishi.b found a more detailed link here .]
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A CDC press release confirms what has already been reported in other sources. The Liberian man became ill four days after arriving in the US, and sought medical help two days later. He was sent home, but returned to hospital two days later and was admitted. Hopefully Ebola's ability to spread through the air remains limited.
Notwithstanding the BBC report, the CDC report states:
The data health officials have seen in the past few decades since Ebola was discovered indicate that it is not spread through casual contact or through the air. Ebola is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids of a sick person or exposure to objects such as needles that have been contaminated. The illness has an average 8-10 day incubation period (although it ranges from 2 to 21 days); CDC recommends monitoring exposed people for symptoms a complete 21 days. People are not contagious after exposure unless they develop symptoms.
See our earlier stories: How Ebola Blocks Immune System, Second Ebola Outbreak in DRC Unrelated to First, and Ebola Disease Modelers: 100K by December.
(Score: 1) by nishi.b on Monday September 01 2014, @12:52PM
(Score: 1) by sudo rm -rf on Monday September 01 2014, @01:57PM
Thanks for the link and no, it's not paywalled.
(Score: 2) by Joe on Monday September 01 2014, @01:10PM
A little more detail for those interested -
The VP24 protein is inhibiting the innate antiviral response, which plays a role throughout infection but is most important soon after the first virus gets into a cell.
Basically every cell in your body has the ability to recognize any virus and respond by calling for help, suppressing viral replication, and (if it fails to stop the virus) kill itself to prevent any more virus from being produced. This response is centered around the interferon protein which informs cells on how to stop viral spread. This is where VP24 earns its place in the viral genome - VP24 prevents cells from being able to respond to the interferon signal due to inhibition of the STAT1 protein's function.
Since interferon is a general antiviral signal, it is used as a part of some antiviral treatments (i.e. hepatitis C infection) but it has multiple side-effects due to its lack of specificity (acting on just about every cell it comes in contact with).
- Joe