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New Rochelle, NY, March 16, 2017 -- Cells infected by the deadly Ebola virus may release viral proteins such as VP40 packaged in exosomes, which, as new research indicates, can affect immune cells throughout the body impairing their ability to combat the infection and to seek out and destroy hidden virus. The potential for exosomal VP40 to have a substantial impact on Ebola virus disease is examined in a review article published in DNA and Cell Biology, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the DNA and Cell Biology website until April 13, 2017.
In the article entitled "The Role of Exosomal VP40 in Ebola Virus Disease," Michelle Pleet, Catherine DeMarino, and Fatha Kashanchi, George Mason University, Benjamin Lepene, Ceres Nanosciences, Manassas, VA, and M. Javad Aman, Integrated BioTherapeutics, Gaithersburg, MD, discuss the latest research on the effects of the Ebola VP40 matrix protein on the immune system. The authors suggest that in addition to VP40, additional viral proteins may also be packaged in the membrane-bound exosomal vesicles, intensifying the damaging effects on immune cells.
"Starting in December 2013, Ebola re-emerged in Western Africa and devastated the population of three countries, prompting an international response of physicians and of basic and translational scientists. This epidemic led to the development of new vaccines, therapeutics, and insights into disease pathogenesis and epidemiology," says Carol Shoshkes Reiss, PhD, Editor-in-Chief of DNA and Cell Biology and Professor, Departments of Biology and Neural Science, and Global Public Health at New York University, NY. "This paper from Pleet and colleagues is important because it shows that Ebola-infected cells secrete small bits of cytoplasm inside membranes, which contain Ebola viral proteins that can damage neighboring and distant host cells."
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About the Journal
DNA and Cell Biology is the trusted source for authoritative, peer-reviewed reporting on the latest research in the field of molecular biology. By combining mechanistic and clinical studies from multiple systems in a single journal, DNA and Cell Biology facilitates communication among biological sub-disciplines. Coverage includes gene structure, function, and regulation, molecular medicine, cellular organelles, protein biosynthesis and degradation, and cell-autonomous inflammation and host cell response to infection. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the DNA and Cell Biology website.
About the Publisher
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Human Gene Therapy, Antioxidants and Redox Signaling, and AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses. Its biotechnology trade magazine, GEN (Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 80 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.
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DNA and Cell Biology