Anti-parasitic Drug Treats Ebola: Study

Amid the worsening Ebola outbreak in the Congo, now threatening to spill into Rwanda, a new study suggests nitazoxanide could help contain this deadly, highly contagious infection.

Nitazoxanide, the existing FDA-approved anti-parasitic drug treats Ebola infection by amplifying the immune response and inhibiting the viral replication, according to a new study.

The study, published in the Cell Press journal iScience, also showed how the drug works: It enhances the immune system's ability to detect Ebola, normally impeded by the virus.

‘NTZ, an anti-parasitic inexpensive oral drug which used to treat Giardia, could help treat and prevent Ebola virus infection with minimal side effects.’
Read More..

Nitazoxanide, or NTZ, is currently used to treat gastrointestinal infections caused by parasites such as Giardia and Cryptosporidium. It has been shown to be safe and even comes in a formulation for children. Study leader Anne Goldfeld, MD, of the Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine at Boston Children's, hopes that, with further testing and validation, it could be part of the solution for Ebola.

"Currently, there is no easily deployable therapy for Ebola virus," she says. "There are some very promising vaccines, but there is no oral, inexpensive medication available."

Outsmarting Ebola

The Ebola virus caused more than 10,000 deaths in the 2014-2016 West African epidemic and more than 1,800 lives (as of August 6th) in the current outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The virus is very good at evading human immune defenses. Though very small, it has two genes devoted to blocking immune responses.

Goldfeld and collaborators Chad Mire, PhD and Thomas Geisbert, PhD at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, showed in Biosafety Level 4 laboratory experiments that NTZ inhibits the Ebola virus (isolated from an earlier outbreak).

Advertisements

Ebola Virus Disease | Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever: Cause Symptoms Diagnosis Treatment
Ebola is caused by a virus via direct contact with body fluids or infected blood. Scientists have identified five types of Ebola or Ebola hemorrhagic fever virus.

Additional experiments performed in collaboration with Sun Hur, PhD of Boston Children's showed that NTZ works by broadly amplifying the interferon pathway and cellular viral sensors, including two known as RIG-I and PKR. By deleting RIG-I and PKR in human cells through CRISPR editing, Goldfeld and University of Texas colleagues showed that NTZ works through these molecules to inhibit Ebola virus.

"Ebola masks RIG-I and PKR, so that cells don't perceive that Ebola is inside," explains Goldfeld. "This lets Ebola get a foothold in the cell and race ahead of the immune response. What we've been able to do is enhance the host viral detection response with NTZ. It's a new path in treating Ebola."