Africa & Science – Afrika & Wissenschaft – Afrique & Science

Nr. 00267- Oct. 1st., 2024 – Weekly Newspaper devoted to Science & Technology in Africa ** Pour la promotion de l'esprit scientifique en Afrique

Protective monotherapy against lethal Ebola virus infection by a potently neutralizing antibody

This is a very interesting article on Ebola. There are reasons to remain optimistic about the outcome of ongoing scientific researches.

« Ebola virus disease in humans is highly lethal, with case fatality rates ranging from 25-90%. There is no licensed treatment or vaccine against the virus, underscoring the need for efficacious countermeasures. Here, we demonstrate that a human survivor of the 1995 Kikwit Ebola virus disease outbreak maintained circulating antibodies against the Ebola virus surface glycoprotein for more than a decade after infection. From this survivor we isolated monoclonal antibodies (mAb) that neutralize recent and previous outbreak variants of Ebola virus, and mediate antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity in vitro. Strikingly, monotherapy with mAb114 protected macaques when given as late as five days after challenge. Treatment with a single human mAb suggests a simplified therapeutic strategy for human Ebola infection may be possible. »

For details: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2016/02/24/science.aad5224.full

Source: Science, The American Association for the Advancement of Science. All rights Reserved. AAAS is a partner of HINARI, AGORA OARE, PatientInform, CHORUS, CLOCKSS, CrossRef and COUNTER. Science ISSN 1095-9203

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