An international team of scientists from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University in New York (USA) and the US Army Infectious Diseases Medical Research Institute have identified, through an experiment with mice, laboratory, a molecular pathway to block the Ebola virus from entering cells. This discovery of the “Achilles heel” of Ebola thanks to these drugs, could be an effective shield against the infection of the deadly virus.
In the rodent experiment, the scientists started from the knowledge that the virus takes advantage of the NPC1 protein to enter the cytoplasm of cells, since it helps transport cholesterol within the cell. Thus, they worked with “wild” mice (which had two intact copies of the NPC1 gene) and with “knockout” mice or KO mice (which did not have the copies of the NPC1 gene) to confirm whether or not this protein was essential in the Ebola infection .
Both groups of mice were inoculated with the virus. The results revealed that those with both intact copies of the gene quickly became infected; however, those who did not possess either of the two copies of NPC1 were protected from infection. The virus did not replicate and neither did they contract the disease .
“We believe that NPC1 may be a kind of ‘Achilles heel’ for Ebola virus infection. Mice lacking both copies of the NPC1 gene, and therefore the NPC1 protein, were completely resistant to infection ”, clarifies Kartik Chandran, leader of the study.
The only caveat for applying these results to humans is that people who lack this gene due to a genetic mutation develop a neurodegenerative disorder called Niemann-Pick disease, in which cells are blocked by the cholesterol and eventually die. However, scientists do see it possible to apply the treatment for a short period of time.
In addition, during the experiment with mice, the researchers observed that a single copy of the NPC1 gene also made the mice resistant to infection , although not in a general way, so that “drugs that interfere with the interaction of Ebola with NPC1 they could provide some benefit, ”says study co-author John M. Dye.
The study has been published in the journal mBio .
