it's even more fascinating. (biochemist here) I think the immunosuppressive regions is a small protein called sGP which ebola causes the cell to produce a ton of. It's not attached to ebola virions, so in a way it's a DDOS on the immune system, by creating a foreign component that the immune system gets distracted by instead of going after ebola.
"DNA vaccines expressing the envelope glycoprotein (GP) or nucleocapsid protein (NP) genes of Ebola virus were evaluated in adult, immunocompetent mice. The vaccines were delivered into the skin by particle bombardment of DNA-coated gold beads with the Powderject-XR gene gun. Both vaccines elicited antibody responses as measured by ELISA and elicited cytotoxic T cell responses as measured by chromium release assays. From one to four vaccinations with 0.5 microgram of the GP DNA vaccine resulted in a dose-dependent protection from Ebola virus challenge. Maximal protection (78% survival) was achieved after four vaccinations. "
There are a few vaccines that work in animals, they just haven't been funded to go through the trials needed to be widely used in humans. There is a good interview on Montana public radio with one of the leading researchers that touches on this:
(Rocky Mountain Lab in Montana is where a large portion of the ebola research in the nation if not world the world happens and mtpr had gotten some really good interviews as a result.)
Correct. Victims bodies are tricked into generating large amounts of cells. This causes the hemorrhaging which is the ultimate cause of death.
Fun fact: The victim's body continues producing cells for several hours after death. In rare cases this (in conjunction with post-death bloating) causes the cadaver to "explode"
