Lead UTMB author Thomas Geisbert. Credit: The
University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
Researchers from The University of Texas Medical
Branch at Galveston and Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp.,
have successfully developed a post-exposure treatment
that is effective against a specific strain of the Ebola
virus that killed thousands of people in West Africa.
The study results, in the April 22 edition of Nature
journal, demonstrated that the treatment is the first to
be shown effective against the new Makona outbreak
strain of Ebola in animals that were infected with the
virus and exhibited symptoms of the disease.
The treatment uses a sequence specific short strand of
RNA, known as siRNA, designed to target and interfere
with the Ebola virus, rendering it harmless. One of the
advantages of this approach is the ability to quickly
modify it to different viral strains.
"We quickly adapted our candidate treatment to target
the Makona outbreak strain of Ebola virus," said UTMB's
Thomas Geisbert, professor of microbiology and
immunology. "We were able to protect all of our
nonhuman primates against a lethal Makona Ebola
infection when treatment began three days following
infection. At this point, those infected showed clinical
signs of disease and had detectable levels of virus in
their blood."
Although all infected animals showed evidence of
advanced disease, those receiving treatment had milder
symptoms and recovered fully. The untreated controls
succumbed to the disease on days eight and nine, which
is similar to that reported in the field after patients
begin showing symptoms of Ebola.
This treatment also protected against liver and kidney
dysfunction and blood disorders that occur during an
Ebola infection. These results indicate that the
treatment may confer protective benefits that go
beyond improving survival rates and effective control of
virus levels in the body.
"This study demonstrates that we can rapidly and
accurately adapt our siRNA-LNP technology to target
genetic sequences emerging from new Ebola virus
outbreaks," said Dr. Mark Murray, president and CEO of
Tekmira Pharmaceuticals.
The Tekmira siRNA-based therapeutic is now being
evaluated in Ebola-infected patients in Sierra Leone.

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