Ebola research exploring how Ebola spreads in the body with implication for targeted Ebola viral treatments 

Page Down To Read Full Story

Olena Shtanko, Ph.D., a Staff Scientist at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute (Texas Biomed), has received more than $1 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to explore different aspects of Ebola virus infection. Understanding how cells become infected is critical to identifying and designing therapies that target viral replication and spread in a host.

“The general model of spread of Ebola virus infection where a viral particle infects a cell, replication begins, new virus particles are made and released into the body to infect neighboring cells is probably a bit too simplistic,” said Shtanko, who is part of the Texas Biomed Host-Pathogen Interactions Program. “How does the virus really get from the site of initial infection, penetrate dense tissues, evade the body’s defense system and end up in distant organs, such as the liver, just a few days later? We really don’t know.”

Over the next two years, Shtanko will explore precisely how the Ebola virus hijacks a key immune cell in the body called macrophages. Even though these large cells specialize in detecting and killing harmful invaders, Ebola and other filoviruses have found a way to enter and hide in the cells. The macrophages then help distribute the virus around the body, serving like Trojan horses, through an unknown mechanism. Shtanko will investigate how exactly virus infection transforms migration and invasive properties of macrophages to maximize its spread in the host.

Shtanko is also excited to explore a possible Ebola alternative mode of spread — tunneling nanotubes, dynamic connections between cells, which allow cells to communicate by exchanging content over relatively long distances (up to 200 microns).