Prevalence of Immune Response for Ebola in the Endemic Populations

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This NSF Rapid response Research (RAPID) project will examine the differences in immune response between individuals who live or die after infection with the Ebola virus. Currently it is not well understood why some infected individuals live while others die. It is important to understand how the response of immune system develops before the symptoms of the disease appears. In this proposal, investigators will examine blood samples from Ebola patients to look for proteins associated with immune response, and examine the differences in these immune proteins between patients who live versus patients who die after infection. They will also examine the time course of the appearance of immune proteins. Early detection of changes in these immune proteins will allow for the identification of the individuals, such as health care workers, already exposed to the virus. Such screening of the immune system may also lead to discovery of antibodies that are produced by the immune system of some individuals who survived the disease. These antibodies can be used for vaccine development or be used directly in infected individuals as a therapeutic.Technical: The goal of this NSF Rapid response Research (RAPID) project is to determine the immunosignature of individuals who have survived the Ebola infection and to examine the time course of the immunosignature during infection prior to the development of symptoms. The PI will use a technology developed in his laboratory that employs high density arrays of peptides to detect antibody binding using a less than a drop of blood. The pattern of binding depends on the immunological state or health status of the individual. The PI has collaborators in place with access to blood samples from previous Ebola outbreaks, as well as access to samples from the current Ebola outbreak. This work should lead to the development of methodologies for early detection of Ebola infection prior to the development symptoms, and could advance vaccine and therapeutic development.