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Ebola causes hemorrhagic fever with case fatality rates as high as 90 percent in humans. The virus is of concern both as a global public health threat and as a potential agent of biological terrorism. Currently there are no available vaccines or therapies to combat the disease. In addition, much is still unknown about the exact mechanism by which Ebola virus invades cells and causes infection.
In one Nature study, scientists from USAMRIID, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, and Harvard Medical School searched for proteins that Ebola virus might use to enter cells. One such cellular protein, known as Niemann-Pick C1 (NPC1), stood out: The team found that if cells don't make NPC1, they cannot be infected by Ebola virus.
In one Nature study, scientists from USAMRIID, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, and Harvard Medical School searched for proteins that Ebola virus might use to enter cells. One such cellular protein, known as Niemann-Pick C1 (NPC1), stood out: The team found that if cells don't make NPC1, they cannot be infected by Ebola virus.
