J Virol: scientists find Ebola or a solid ally against brain tumors

February 20, 2020 / bioun / -- glioblastoma is a kind of intractable, refractory and fatal brain tumor Scientists at Yale University have found the most unlikely ally, part of the Ebola virus, to treat the cancer "Ironically, one of the world's deadliest viruses may be useful in treating one of the deadliest brain cancers," said Anthony van den pol, Professor of Neurosurgery at Yale University This approach takes advantage of the weakness of most cancer tumors and the response of the Ebola virus defense system to pathogens Photo source: unlike normal cells, most cancer cells lack the ability to produce natural immune responses against invaders such as viruses, which led cancer researchers to explore the use of viruses against various cancers There is a clear risk of using viruses - they can cause potentially dangerous infections To solve this problem, scientists including van den pol have tried to create or test chimeric viruses, or gene combinations of multiple viruses They have the ability to target cancer cells without harming the patient One of the seven genes that help the Ebola virus avoid immune system reactions also contributes to its lethality This attracted van den pol's interest He and lead author Xue Zhang, also from Yale University, used a chimeric virus containing the Ebola virus gene, a glycoprotein with a mucin domain (MLD) In wild-type Ebola virus, MLD plays the role of hiding Ebola virus in the immune system They injected the chimeric virus into the brains of glioblastoma mice and found that MLD helped selectively target and kill deadly glioblastoma brain tumors (Note: the team used MLD glycoprotein instead of the full Ebola virus ）Van den pol said the beneficial effect of MLD seems to be to protect normal cells from infection, not cancer cells, which lack the ability to produce an immune response to pathogens A key factor, he said, could be that viruses with glycoprotein MLD replicate more slowly, which could make it safer than viruses without glycoprotein MLD In theory, he said, the virus could be used in combination with surgery to eliminate glioblastoma tumors and help prevent cancer recurrence Reference: Xue Zhang et al, mucin like domain of Ebola virus glycoprotein enhancements selective online actions against brain tubes, Journal of Virology (2020) Doi: 10.1128/jvi.01967-19