A new paper from researchers at UC Berkeley School of Public Health, Albert Einstein School of Medicine, the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), and other institutions, has yielded new insights into how antibodies targeting a specific protein produced by cells infected with Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV) may be a good candidate for use in future therapies and vaccines for the virus.
CCHFV is a highly lethal tick-borne disease and kills up to 40% of people it infects.
Infections occur through tick bites or by handling the carcasses of infected sheep, goats, and cattle. No vaccines or drugs are available for preventing or treating the disease, which causes increasingly frequent and widespread hemorrhagic-fever outbreaks in Africa, Europe, and Asia.
Cells infected with CCHFV release the viral glycoprotein GP38, which has been considered a promising target for protective vaccines or other treatments because antibodies binding this protein protect against severe cases of CCHFV in animal models. But a lack of knowledge about GP38—what it does and why blocking it may protect people from CCHFV—has hampered efforts to develop medications or vaccines to treat or prevent the virus.