Scientists studying the
lethal Ebola virus say they
have found how it blocks and
disables the body's ability to
battle infections in a discovery
that should help the search for potential cures and vaccines. In the largest and deadliest
outbreak of the disease yet
recorded, Ebola has killed more
than 1,000 people in West
Africa since March. A group of scientists in the
United States found that Ebola
carries a protein called VP24
that interferes with a molecule
called interferon, which is vital
to the immune response. Immune system disrupted "One of the key reasons that
Ebola virus is so deadly is
because it disrupts the body's
immune response to the
infection," said Chris Basler of
the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, who
worked on the study. "Figuring out how VP24
promotes this disruption will
suggest new ways to defeat
the virus." The team, lead by Gaya
Amarasinghe from
Washington University School
of Medicine, found that VP24
works by stopping something
called "transcription factor STAT1" - which carries
interferon's antiviral message -
from entering the nucleus of a
cell and initiating an immune
response.http://m.news24.com/nigeria/Lifestyle/Scientists-find-how-Ebola-disables-immune-response-20140814-2