First look at hospitalized Ebola survivors' immune cells could guide vaccine design

MEDICALXPRESS                                                                                                 March 9, 2015
Researchers from Emory and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have now obtained a first look at the immune responses in four Ebola virus disease survivors who received care at Emory University Hospital in 2014, by closely examining their T cells and B cells during the acute phase of the disease. The findings reveal surprisingly high levels of immune activation, and have implications for the current effort to develop vaccines against Ebola.

The Ebola virus, isolated in November 2014 from patient blood samples obtained in Mali. The virus was isolated on Vero cells in a BSL-4 suite at Rocky Mountain Laboratories. Credit: NIAID

All four patients' immune systems showed strong signs of T and B cell activation, according to a paper to be published in PNAS. Some previous research on Ebola virus disease had suggested that immune responses could be impaired.

"Our findings counter the idea that Ebola virus infection is immunosuppressive, at least in the patients that we were able to study," says lead author Anita McElroy, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics (infectious disease) at Emory University School of Medicine and a guest researcher at CDC's Viral Special Pathogens Branch. "They also demonstrate the value that supportive care may have in enabling the immune system to fight back against Ebola virus infection."

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