A colorized scanning electron micrograph that shows Ebola virus filaments (blue) budding from a yellow infected cell. (credit: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease)
The 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak in western Africa made the virus a major public health concern. It increased the push to develop an Ebola vaccine, but there’s also interest in developing a therapeutic treatment, which could limit any future outbreaks after they start.
A recent study published in Science shows that antibodies that target part of a protein on the surface of the Ebola virus makes an effective therapy for Ebola infection in mice. This finding is remarkable because researchers obtained the antibodies from a human survivor of an earlier Ebola outbreak.
Glycoproteins exist on the external shell of a virus and are often used by the virus to latch on to host cells. But their location also make them recognizable by the host’s immune system, which manufactures antibodies against them. The Ebola virus has its own distinctive glycoprotein, which is the only known target for a human antibody response.
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