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Human Ebola virus infection results in substantial immune activation

Kati

Patient in training
Messages
5,497
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2015/03/05/1502619112.abstract.html?etoc

Abstract:
Four Ebola patients received care at Emory University Hospital, presenting a unique opportunity to examine the cellular immune responses during acute Ebola virus infection.

We found striking activation of both B and T cells in all four patients. Plasmablast frequencies were 10–50% of B cells, compared with less than 1% in healthy individuals. Many of these proliferating plasmablasts were IgG-positive, and this finding coincided with the presence of Ebola virus-specific IgG in the serum.

Activated CD4 T cells ranged from 5 to 30%, compared with 1–2% in healthy controls. The most pronounced responses were seen in CD8 T cells, with over 50% of the CD8 T cells expressing markers of activation and proliferation.

Taken together, these results suggest that all four patients developed robust immune responses during the acute phase of Ebola virus infection, a finding that would not have been predicted based on our current assumptions about the highly immunosuppressive nature of Ebola virus.

Also, quite surprisingly, we found sustained immune activation after the virus was cleared from the plasma, observed most strikingly in the persistence of activated CD8 T cells, even 1 mo after the patients’ discharge from the hospital.

These results suggest continued antigen stimulation after resolution of the disease. From these convalescent time points, we identified CD4 and CD8 T-cell responses to several Ebola virus proteins, most notably the viral nucleoprotein.

Knowledge of the viral proteins targeted by T cells during natural infection should be useful in designing vaccines against Ebola virus


Does this immune reaction remind you of anything? Funny how it goes. If you got Ebola, they got a special care plan for you. If you got ME/CFS/SEID, you're not special at all, and why would you get that testing for? ... (Paragraphs were made up to make reading the text easier)
 
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Bob

Senior Member
Messages
16,455
Location
England (south coast)
Also, quite surprisingly, we found sustained immune activation after the virus was cleared from the plasma, observed most strikingly in the persistence of activated CD8 T cells, even 1 mo after the patients’ discharge from the hospital.
It would be helpful to look at the immunology of the patients who are suffering from chronic post Ebola syndrome. But those patients are located in Africa, so not so accessible to western scientists.
 

Jammy88

Senior Member
Messages
163
Location
Italy
Does this immune reaction remind you of anything? Funny how it goes. If you got Ebola, they got a special care plan for you. If you got ME/CFS/SEID, you're not special at all, and why would you get that testing for?


That's so demotivating and you're right indeed :(

Hey, wait… should we all get Ebola?! :D lol… not funny at all, I know, but….. :-|
 

msf

Senior Member
Messages
3,650
I have seen a patient say that having ME was worse than having cancer (I forget which type), but if there is one disease I would never swap ME for, it is Ebola, not unless I had a death wish, and a death wish to die in one of the most painful and frightening ways possible.

As for the continuing immune activation one month after the virus had been cleared from the plasma, it doesn't seem very surprising, since CD8 T-cells are supposed to last at least that long, if not longer.
 

Kati

Patient in training
Messages
5,497
That's so demotivating and you're right indeed :(

Hey, wait… should we all get Ebola?! :D lol… not funny at all, I know, but….. :-|
Sorry for being demmotivating, @Jammy88 i was just speaking of the current reality... Hopefully this will change.

A smart researcher would compare the blood of Ebola patients with the blood of ME/SEID patients, amd compare what's similar and what's different.

Nancy Klimas has been successful in getting grants that way
 

halcyon

Senior Member
Messages
2,482
If I recall correctly, Ebolavirus sequesters its RNA and forms dsRNA in a way that's similar to enterovirus. It's also able to interfere with cell mediated immune pathways much like enterovirus. It seems conceivable that, assuming the person survives the infection, some amount of virus could persist in the tissue and prolong immune activation.

It's also interesting that Ampligen has shown some promise for treating Ebola infections.
 

Sidereal

Senior Member
Messages
4,856
If I recall correctly, Ebolavirus sequesters its RNA and forms dsRNA in a way that's similar to enterovirus. It's also able to interfere with cell mediated immune pathways much like enterovirus. It seems conceivable that, assuming the person survives the infection, some amount of virus could persist in the tissue and prolong immune activation.

It's also interesting that Ampligen has shown some promise for treating Ebola infections.

It's also interesting that it's one of those viruses causing post-viral fatigue syndrome.