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Protein fragments-called amyloid fibrils, in human semen significantly increase Ebola virus infection and protect the virus against harsh environmental conditions such as heat and dehydration.
Ebola is transmitted primarily through direct contact with blood and other bodily fluids from infected people, follow-up studies from the 2014 epidemic found that men can harbor the virus in their semen for more than at least 2years, with the potential to transmit the virus sexually.
Targeting amyloids in semen could prevent a sexually transmitted spread of the Ebola virus.
Sexual transmission of the Ebola virus poses a significant public health concern, especially in light of the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Sexual transmission has also been linked to a resurgence of Ebola in Guinea, which had previously been declared Ebola-free during the West Africa Ebola outbreak. Strategies for countering amyloids, such as creating small molecules that disrupt its structure, have been developed to slow or halt HIV transmission.
Several types of amyloids found in semen enhance the transmission and infection of other viruses, such as HIV, by helping the virus attach to the membrane surrounding host cells. In a previous study, James Shorter, PhD, an associate professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics and co-author on the PNAS study, identified how yeast heat shock proteins and a small molecule called CLR01 could disrupt the formation of amyloid fibrils found in semen to make human immune cells less likely to be infected with HIV.
To test the ability of amyloids to enhance infection, benign viruses with the distinctive Ebola glycoprotein (a marker on the outside of the virus particle) were incubated with physiological concentrations of semen amyloids before infecting a variety of human cell types including macrophages, a primary target of Ebola virus in humans.
Infection levels of cells with this benign Ebola virus and amyloids were about 20 times higher compared to cells with the virus alone. Amyloids enhanced the binding of the virus to cells and increased its ability to be internalized by host cells. The fibrils working within semen significantly altered the physical properties of the virus, making it better able to survive in internal body environments of high temperature and less moisture.
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