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How Ebola blocks immune system

Date:August 29, 2014

Source:
DOE/Argonne National Laboratory

Summary:
Researchers have identified one way the Ebola virus dodges the body's antiviral defenses, providing important insight that could lead to new therapies.

Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine have identified one way the Ebola virus dodges the body's antiviral defenses, providing important insight that could lead to new therapies, in research results published in the journal Cell Host & Microbe.

In work performed at Beamline 19ID at Argonne National Laboratory's Advanced Photon Source, the researchers developed a detailed map of how a non-pathogenic Ebola protein, VP24, binds to a host protein that takes signaling molecules in and out of the cell nucleus.

Their map revealed that the viral protein takes away the host protein's ability to carry an important immune signal into the nucleus. This signal helps activate the immune system's antiviral defenses, and blocking it is believed to contribute significantly to the virus's deadliness.

Story Source:
The above story is based on materials provided by DOE/Argonne National Laboratory. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Journal Reference:
Wei Xu, Megan R. Edwards, Dominika M. Borek, Alicia R. Feagins, Anuradha Mittal, Joshua B. Alinger, Kayla N. Berry, Benjamin Yen, Jennifer Hamilton, Tom J. Brett, Rohit V. Pappu, Daisy W. Leung, Christopher F. Basler, Gaya K. Amarasinghe. Ebola Virus VP24 Targets a Unique NLS Binding Site on Karyopherin Alpha 5 to Selectively Compete with Nuclear Import of Phosphorylated STAT1. Cell Host & Microbe, 2014; 16 (2): 187 DOI: 10.1016/j.chom.2014.07.008
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chom.2014.07.008

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DOE/Argonne National Laboratory. "How Ebola blocks immune system." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 29 August 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/08/140829135459.htm>.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/08/140829135459.htm