New mosquito-borne virus could lead to new vaccines
A virus discovered past times accident has crucial features that could Pb to novel vaccines in addition to drugs against or in addition to then of the unsafe mosquito-borne pathogens that tin flaming deport upon horses in addition to humans.
Although closely related to deadly equine pathogens, the newly discovered Eilat virus is harmless.
A musquito sample collected 3 decades agone inward Israel’s Negev Desert has yielded the unexpected discovery.
The Eilat virus is closely related to or in addition to then of the world’s most unsafe mosquito-borne viruses but, curiously, is incapable of infecting non-insect hosts.
Researchers believe this attribute could brand the Eilat virus a useful tool for studying other alphaviruses, a genus of largely mosquito-borne pathogens that includes the viruses responsible for chikungunya, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, western equine encephalitis in addition to eastern equine encephalitis.
Eilat could also assistance inward the evolution of novel alphavirus vaccines, therapies in addition to diagnostic techniques, the researchers say.
“This virus is unique – it’s related to all of these mosquito-borne viruses that drive illness in addition to bike betwixt mosquitoes in addition to animals, in addition to yet it is incapable of infecting vertebrate cells,” said Farooq Nasar, a graduate pupil at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. He is Pb writer of a newspaper on the virus instantly online inward the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“It’s a gift, really, because nosotros tin flaming compare it to other alphaviruses in addition to figure out the solid pose down of their mightiness to infect a diversity of animals, including humans.”
Eilat was discovered inward a virus sample that Joseph Peleg, of Hebrew University, sent to the University of Texas Medical Branch’s Dr Robert Tesh, an writer of the newspaper in addition to manager of the World Reference Center for Emerging Viruses in addition to Arboviruses.
The collection holds over 5000 identified viruses in addition to dozens of unidentified samples similar the 1 contributed past times Peleg.
All that researchers knew well-nigh Peleg’s specimen was that it killed insect cells piece leaving brute cells untouched, a real odd behavior.
So they sent it to a lab at Columbia University that specializes inward doing highly intensive searches for the genetic textile of viruses, a procedure called “deep sequencing”. As it turned out, at that spot were 2 novel viruses inward the sample. One virus killed insect cells, in addition to the other — Eilat virus — infected them without doing whatever harm.
“We were extraordinarily lucky to take away maintain that other virus inward our sample, because without the jail cellphone give-up the ghost it caused, nosotros never would take away maintain done the locomote that led us to Eilat,” Nasar said. “Essentially, nosotros constitute it past times accident.”
Eilat’s inability to grow inward brute cells — fifty-fifty its genetic textile cannot replicate inward them — makes it unique amid alphaviruses, in addition to it also makes it probable that the virus could hold out uniquely valuable to researchers who written report alphaviruses in addition to locomote to protect humans in addition to domestic animals from them.
The researchers enjoin Eilat could potentially hold out transformed into a vaccine against 1 of its unsafe relatives past times making changes to the genes that orbit its envelope proteins, which are exposed on virus particle surfaces in addition to get the critical parts of the immune response.
“We take away maintain taken the genes for the envelope proteins of real unsafe viruses similar eastern equine encephalitis in addition to used them to supersede the genes for Eilat’s structural proteins,” Nasar said.
“That gives us viruses that nosotros tin flaming grow inward insect cells that can’t exercise anything inward vertebrate cells at all, exactly nonetheless orbit immunity against eastern equine encephalitis —they tin flaming hold out used to vaccinate animals, in addition to hopefully someday people.”
A diversity of Eilat-based “chimeric viruses” — viruses made past times combining genetic textile from other viruses — could hold out used to written report the interactions betwixt host cells in addition to unsafe alphaviruses, leading to the evolution of antiviral drugs.
The viruses could also serve equally the solid pose down for novel diagnostic tools that could hold out deployed inward an alphavirus outbreak.
Because these chimeras, similar Eilat, would non hold out able to infect vertebrates, such query could hold out done without the elaborate in addition to oft cumbersome containment precautions needed for working amongst pathogens similar chikungunya, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, or eastern in addition to western equine encephalitis.
Other authors of the query newspaper include query associates Rodion Gorchakov, Hilda Guzman in addition to Amelia Travassos Da Rosa, assistant professor Michael Sherman, in addition to professors Vsevolod Popov in addition to senior writer Scott Weaver, equally good equally Columbia University’s Gustavo Palacios, Nazir Savji in addition to Ian Lipkin.
The query was supported past times the National Institutes of Health.
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