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"A chimpanzee cold virus was modified to carry Ebola genetic material conferring protection against the Zaire strain of Ebola." What could possibly go wrong!

gus_massa 12y ago
I don't have access to the complete article, so I have to guess. The virus have many parts. They probably copy one of the proteins of the surface of the Ebola virus in the flu virus, not the main infectious code. So it "looks" like an Ebola virus, but acts like a flu virus and only give you a mild flu.
- hga 12y ago
  The containing Wikipedia article the chimpanzee virus was attenuated, and that it doesn't replicate in humans, evidently either from that, or the modification (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola_vaccine#cAd3-EBO_Z https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola_vaccine#cAd3-EBO_Z).
hga 12y ago
This sort of vaccine engineering is well understood. The very step of substituting material tends to make the virus non-viable outside of the specialized environments in which it's produced, e.g. they've perhaps knocking out something essential for its normal function in chimpanzees. In a presentation I found from obvious Wikipedia pages they showed how they chose the starting virus out of a large galaxy of candidates, it's safe to bet without further examination it's not very bad for chimpanzees or us, to make development safer and easier. The genes that code for Ebola glycoproteins (proteins with sugars) or critical, outward facing and therefore immune system alerting, parts of them, can't get very far without the rest of the Ebola virus payload. At a very simple level, view it as poking at the immune system with a stick who's end is shaped in the way you want it, have with some precision engineered it. The immune system is going to react if you've done it right, you do expect some fevers and such in some people, but no more. "Fortunately" Ebola is ultra lethal to all primates, so animal models are easy to find, and it could be thoroughly tested on them before trying it on humans.

gus_massa 12y ago

I don't have access to the complete article, so I have to guess. The virus have many parts. They probably copy one of the proteins of the surface of the Ebola virus in the flu virus, not the main infectious code. So it "looks" like an Ebola virus, but acts like a flu virus and only give you a mild flu.

hga 12y ago
The containing Wikipedia article the chimpanzee virus was attenuated, and that it doesn't replicate in humans, evidently either from that, or the modification (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola_vaccine#cAd3-EBO_Z https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola_vaccine#cAd3-EBO_Z).

hga 12y ago

This sort of vaccine engineering is well understood. The very step of substituting material tends to make the virus non-viable outside of the specialized environments in which it's produced, e.g. they've perhaps knocking out something essential for its normal function in chimpanzees. In a presentation I found from obvious Wikipedia pages they showed how they chose the starting virus out of a large galaxy of candidates, it's safe to bet without further examination it's not very bad for chimpanzees or us, to make development safer and easier. The genes that code for Ebola glycoproteins (proteins with sugars) or critical, outward facing and therefore immune system alerting, parts of them, can't get very far without the rest of the Ebola virus payload. At a very simple level, view it as poking at the immune system with a stick who's end is shaped in the way you want it, have with some precision engineered it. The immune system is going to react if you've done it right, you do expect some fevers and such in some people, but no more. "Fortunately" Ebola is ultra lethal to all primates, so animal models are easy to find, and it could be thoroughly tested on them before trying it on humans.