Researchers from the National Institutes of Health, University of California-Riverside and Plymouth University in the U.K., have found the vaccine based on a common herpesvirus called cytomegalovirus may also provide protection against the Ebola virus.
The study was performed using a non-human primate model, specifically macaques. The researchers noted a surprisingly high level of antibodies produced against Ebola virus with no detectable Ebola-specific T cells in the macaques that received the CMV-based vaccine. This result has never been seen before for such primate herpesvirus-based vaccines, and is being regarded as a crucial step before translation of Ebola virus vaccines into humans and other great apes.
According to Michael Jarvis, PhD, who is leading the project at Plymouth University, the finding was completely serendipitous.
"Although we will definitely need to explore this finding further, it suggests that we may be able to bias immunity towards either antibodies or T cells based on the time of target antigen production," said Dr. Jarvis. "This is exciting not just for Ebola, but for vaccination against other infectious as well as non-infectious diseases."
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