New research on Ebola therapeutics
Recent research published in Nature Microbiology has identified and studied Ebola antibodies that could be used to design universal therapeutics that are effective against different Ebola species.
Strategies that have been developed to treat the disease include ZMapp, which has been found to be effective in non-human primates. “The trouble with ZMapp is that although it is effective against the Ebola species that was largely responsible for the last Ebola outbreak, it does not neutralise other Ebola species, including Ebola Bundibugyo, Reston or Sudan,” said Alex Bukreyev, co-senior author and a Professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.
The researchers identified and studied three naturally-occurring antibodies from human survivors of Ebola Bundibugyo that neutralise and protect against infection with the several different Ebola virus species. The antibodies bond at a different site on the Ebola virus than other antibodies currently used to develop Ebola therapies.