Prevalence of Immune Response for Ebola in the Endemic Populations

这个国家科学基金会快速反应研究（Rapid）项目将研究感染埃博拉病毒后存活或死亡的个体之间免疫反应的差异。目前还不清楚为什么一些受感染的人活着，而另一些人死亡。在疾病症状出现之前，了解免疫系统的反应如何发展是很重要的。在这项提议中，研究人员将检查埃博拉患者的血液样本，寻找与免疫反应相关的蛋白质，并检查存活患者与感染后死亡患者之间这些免疫蛋白质的差异。他们还将检查免疫蛋白出现的时间进程。早期发现这些免疫蛋白的变化将有助于识别已经暴露于病毒的个体，例如卫生保健工作者。这种免疫系统的筛选也可能导致发现一些疾病幸存者的免疫系统产生的抗体。这些抗体可用于疫苗开发或直接用于受感染个体作为治疗。技术：美国国家科学基金会快速反应研究（Rapid）项目的目标是确定埃博拉感染幸存者的免疫标记，并检查感染期间免疫标记在症状出现之前的时间进程。PI将使用他实验室开发的一项技术，该技术利用高密度肽阵列来检测抗体结合，只需不到一滴血。结合的模式取决于个体的免疫状态或健康状况。该倡议已安排合作者，可获得以往埃博拉疫情的血液样本，以及目前埃博拉疫情的样本。这项工作应有助于开发在出现症状之前早期发现埃博拉感染的方法，并可促进疫苗和治疗方法的开发。

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.