Human Enzyme Helps Ebola Virus Invade Cells

As the deadly outbreak of Marburg virus continues to claim lives in Angola, researchers have worked out
how the closely related Ebola virus invades human cells.

The findings could lead to a treatment for the diseases, which each kill up to 90 per cent of those infected.

The researchers, led by James Cunningham of Harvard Medical School, United States, showed that a human
enzyme helps Ebola virus fuse with the cells of people it infects.

The enzyme, called Cathepsin B, digests a protein the virus uses to attach to a human cell. This destabilises
the cell's outer membrane, allowing the virus to fuse with it.

In a laboratory experiment, the team treated kidney cells so that Cathepsin B would not function, then
exposed them to the Ebola virus. They found that this reduced the virus's ability to multiply, and suggest the
approach could lead to a drug against the virus.

Cunningham told SciDev.Net said that his team is now testing whether the related Marburg virus uses the
same strategy to invade human cells.

Angola is currently suffering from the worst ever outbreak of Marburg virus, with 215 dead. The vast
majority of casualties were reported the last month.

If blocking Cathepsin B works against Ebola, it might also work against the Marburg virus, says Javad
Aman who studies Marburg at the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases.

Aman points out that Cathepsin enzymes are important for the body's immune system, so blocking them
could cause severe side effects.

But he adds that because people infected with Ebola or Marburg virus usually only need treatment for 10-14
days, this could make any side effects acceptable.