Banishing Ebola

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is still ongoing, with over 24,000 recorded cases and no licensed treatment or vaccine. Understanding how the body interacts with – and attempts to fight – the virus is key to developing effective vaccines. B- and T-cells are the body’s defence against disease – when they find infection they will multiply and attack. Importantly, these immune cells will ‘remember’ the illness, creating immunity to re-infection. Until now it was believed that the Ebola virus (pictured) was an immunosuppressant, which limited the body’s ability to fight back in this way. But monitoring the response of B- and T-cells in four patients infected with Ebola showed that there was significant B- and T-cell activation, with particularly large proportions of CD8-type T cells. These T cells targeted specific proteins on the virus, suggesting that medicine containing these proteins will activate the production of CD8 T cells, providing effective future vaccination against Ebola.

Written by Helen Thomas

Helen Thomas

Writer

Currently at Warwick University, Helen is working towards a chemistry doctorate in nanomaterials. However her scientific interests remain broad, and she enjoys exploring these different areas as a writer for the University paper.

• Image by Cynthia Goldsmith and Pierre Rollin
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USA
• Originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY 4.0)
• Research published in PNAS, April 2015