According to a paper published in the journal Cell Host & Microbe,¹ there is a mechanism unique to the Ebola virus that defeats attempts by interferon to block viral reproduction in infected cells. According to a report on Science Daily, one of the body’s first responses to a viral infection is to make signaling proteins called interferons, which amplify the immune system response to viruses. Over time, many viruses have evolved to undermined interferon’s immune-boosting signal.

The newly published study explains how the production by the virus of a protein called Ebola Viral Protein 24 (eVP24) stops the interferon-based signals from ramping up immune defenses. With the body’s first response disabled, the virus is free to mass produce itself and trigger the too-large immune response that damages organs and often becomes deadly as part of Ebola virus disease (EVD), reported Science Daily.

“Our study is the first to show how eVP24 defeats the signal sent by interferons, the key signaling molecules in the body’s early defense response to Ebola virus infection,” said Christoper F. Basler, PhD, professor of Microbiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the school that ran the study in collaboration with Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. “These newfound details of Ebola biology are already serving as the foundation of a new drug development effort, albeit in its earlier stages.”

For more information, visit www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/08/140813130044.htm.

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