Assessing the contribution of interferon antagonism to the virulence of West African Ebola viruses

Eric C. Dunham; Logan Banadyga; Allison Groseth; Abhilash I. Chiramel; Sonja M. Best; Hideki Ebihara; Heinz Feldmann; Thomas Hoenen

doi:10.1038/ncomms9000

Assessing the contribution of interferon antagonism to the virulence of West African Ebola viruses

Eric C. Dunham, Logan Banadyga, Allison Groseth, Abhilash I. Chiramel, Sonja M. Best, Hideki Ebihara, Heinz Feldmann, Thomas Hoenen

Molecular Medicine

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

15 Scopus citations

Abstract

The current Ebola virus (EBOV) outbreak in West Africa is unprecedented in terms of both its size and duration, and there has been speculation and concern regarding the potential for EBOV to increase in virulence as a result of its prolonged circulation in humans. Here we investigate the relative potency of the interferon (IFN) inhibitors encoded by EBOVs from West Africa, since an important EBOV virulence factor is inhibition of the antiviral IFN response. Based on this work we show that, in terms of IFN antagonism, the West African viruses display no discernible differences from the prototype Mayinga isolate, which corroborates epidemiological data suggesting these viruses show no increased virulence compared with those from previous outbreaks. This finding has important implications for public health decisions, since it does not provide experimental support for theoretical claims that EBOV might gain increased virulence due to the extensive human-to-human transmission in the on-going outbreak.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	8000
Journal	Nature communications
Volume	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9000
State	Published - Aug 5 2015

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Chemistry
General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
General Physics and Astronomy

Access to Document

10.1038/ncomms9000

Cite this

@article{2a4552a5d3814cb9b6e3d5684d60df5a,

title = "Assessing the contribution of interferon antagonism to the virulence of West African Ebola viruses",

abstract = "The current Ebola virus (EBOV) outbreak in West Africa is unprecedented in terms of both its size and duration, and there has been speculation and concern regarding the potential for EBOV to increase in virulence as a result of its prolonged circulation in humans. Here we investigate the relative potency of the interferon (IFN) inhibitors encoded by EBOVs from West Africa, since an important EBOV virulence factor is inhibition of the antiviral IFN response. Based on this work we show that, in terms of IFN antagonism, the West African viruses display no discernible differences from the prototype Mayinga isolate, which corroborates epidemiological data suggesting these viruses show no increased virulence compared with those from previous outbreaks. This finding has important implications for public health decisions, since it does not provide experimental support for theoretical claims that EBOV might gain increased virulence due to the extensive human-to-human transmission in the on-going outbreak.",

author = "Dunham, {Eric C.} and Logan Banadyga and Allison Groseth and Chiramel, {Abhilash I.} and Best, {Sonja M.} and Hideki Ebihara and Heinz Feldmann and Thomas Hoenen",

year = "2015",

month = aug,

day = "5",

doi = "10.1038/ncomms9000",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "6",

journal = "Nature communications",

issn = "2041-1723",

publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Assessing the contribution of interferon antagonism to the virulence of West African Ebola viruses

AU - Dunham, Eric C.

AU - Banadyga, Logan

AU - Groseth, Allison

AU - Chiramel, Abhilash I.

AU - Best, Sonja M.

AU - Ebihara, Hideki

AU - Feldmann, Heinz

AU - Hoenen, Thomas

PY - 2015/8/5

Y1 - 2015/8/5

N2 - The current Ebola virus (EBOV) outbreak in West Africa is unprecedented in terms of both its size and duration, and there has been speculation and concern regarding the potential for EBOV to increase in virulence as a result of its prolonged circulation in humans. Here we investigate the relative potency of the interferon (IFN) inhibitors encoded by EBOVs from West Africa, since an important EBOV virulence factor is inhibition of the antiviral IFN response. Based on this work we show that, in terms of IFN antagonism, the West African viruses display no discernible differences from the prototype Mayinga isolate, which corroborates epidemiological data suggesting these viruses show no increased virulence compared with those from previous outbreaks. This finding has important implications for public health decisions, since it does not provide experimental support for theoretical claims that EBOV might gain increased virulence due to the extensive human-to-human transmission in the on-going outbreak.

AB - The current Ebola virus (EBOV) outbreak in West Africa is unprecedented in terms of both its size and duration, and there has been speculation and concern regarding the potential for EBOV to increase in virulence as a result of its prolonged circulation in humans. Here we investigate the relative potency of the interferon (IFN) inhibitors encoded by EBOVs from West Africa, since an important EBOV virulence factor is inhibition of the antiviral IFN response. Based on this work we show that, in terms of IFN antagonism, the West African viruses display no discernible differences from the prototype Mayinga isolate, which corroborates epidemiological data suggesting these viruses show no increased virulence compared with those from previous outbreaks. This finding has important implications for public health decisions, since it does not provide experimental support for theoretical claims that EBOV might gain increased virulence due to the extensive human-to-human transmission in the on-going outbreak.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84938914045&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84938914045&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1038/ncomms9000

DO - 10.1038/ncomms9000

M3 - Article

C2 - 26242723

AN - SCOPUS:84938914045

SN - 2041-1723

VL - 6

JO - Nature communications

JF - Nature communications

M1 - 8000

ER -

Assessing the contribution of interferon antagonism to the virulence of West African Ebola viruses

Abstract

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this