Ebola curable in the future?

US researchers report breakthrough in Ebola research

26.08.2011

The deadly Ebola virus could soon lose its terror. According to researchers from the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) as early as last August, of initial successes in the search for drugs against Ebola and the nearly as deadly Marburg virus reported, scientists from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and Harvard Medical School in Boston now have more success in the fight against Ebola.

The Ebola virus, caused by the Ebola virus, is one of the deadliest known diseases worldwide and ends, depending on the Ebola strain, in approximately 90 percent of infected people and 100 percent of infected monkeys deadly. After about 10 days of incubation infected persons become lethargic, suffer from nausea and vomiting, get a high fever and start to bleed from all pores in the later course of the disease. Typical symptoms include internal bleeding, bleeding into the tissues, blood in the stool and urine, and bleeding from the skin and mucous membranes. Often sufferers also suffer from liver and kidney dysfunction with edema. In the final stage, the internal organs of the Ebola patients literally dissolve and the associated bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract, the spleen and the lungs subsequently lead to the death of the patients. Because the body fluid escaping from all the pores of those affected is highly contagious, Ebola quickly spreads epidemic-like. The Ebola virus is relatively widespread, especially in Africa, and until today there is no cure.

But now report two research teams in the journal „Nature“ first demonstrated a defense mechanism against the Ebola virus. The scientists around Kartik Chandran from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, have shown that an endogenous protein helps the virus penetrate into human cells. The molecule used for the transport of blood lipid cholesterol „Niemann pick C1“ (NPC1) is usually responsible for transporting and processing the cholesterol inside the cell, the researchers at the Albert Einstein College report. However, the Ebola virus also used this route to get into the cells. Study author Kartik Chandran explained that cells that „Do not make this protein, nor be infected by the Ebola virus“ can.“ For example, blockade of the protein with a special active ingredient could provide effective protection against the Ebola virus. Experiments on cell cultures and mice have shown that blocking the protein provides 99 percent immunity to the Ebola virus, the researchers said.

However, the absence of the protein in the long run also results in a serious hereditary disease, so that only a short-term blockade in the context of an acute outbreak of the disease comes into question. Since the Ebola epidemics usually only lasted for a relatively short period of time, a long-term use of appropriate drugs would not be required anyway, the scientists said. The disturbances of the cholesterol transport into the cells are in view of the health risks of the deadly infectious disease „tolerable“, so Kartik Chandran and colleagues continue.

In the second study presented, researchers led by James Cunningham of Harvard Medical School in Boston, using a search robot, discovered a drug that blocks the protein NPC1, which is so important for Ebola viruses. Thousands of active ingredients has been evaluated by the robot, looking for a possible cure for Ebola. In the end, the scientists discovered a drug that protects particularly efficiently against Ebola and the related Marburg virus. As study author Cunningham has reported „Such small molecules that attack NPC1 and thereby inhibit Ebola infection have the potential to become antiviral agents“, which allow a cure of Ebola fever. When using the drug, the cells were reliably protected against infection with the virus, the researchers said. Here, the blockade of NPC1 was very selective against the Ebola virus and the related Marburg virus, while other viruses and pathogens were not affected, the US scientists said.

Research into a cure for Ebola is also receiving massive support from the US Department of Defense for its concern over potential bio-terrorist attacks. Already last year, the US Department of Defense negotiated a contract with AVI BioPharma researchers for further cooperation in Ebola research, and promised the company more than $ 291 million for future research. A sum which, in view of the approximately 1,200 Ebola deaths since the discovery of the infectious disease in 1976, seems to be significantly inflated. Especially since the fear of bioterrorism is the reason for the research effort. Criticism has accused the US Department of Defense of investing comparable sums in aid and providing support for „America enemy“ Countries, in the fight against the dangers of bioterrorism would bring significantly more than the use of research into a cure for Ebola. (Fp)

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Image: Sigrid Rossmann