Lilia I Melnik, Shantanu Guha, Jenisha Ghimire, Allison R Smither, Brandon J Beddingfield, Andrew R Hoffmann, Leisheng Sun, Nathan A Ungerleider, Melody C Baddoo, Erik K Flemington, William R Gallaher, William C Wimley, Robert F Garry
During the 2013-2016 West African (WA) Ebola virus (EBOV) outbreak, severe gastrointestinal symptoms were common in patients and associated with poor outcome. Delta peptide is a conserved product of post-translational processing of the abundant EBOV soluble glycoprotein (sGP). The murine ligated ileal loop model was used to demonstrate that delta peptide is a potent enterotoxin. Dramatic intestinal fluid accumulation follows injection of biologically relevant amounts of delta peptide into ileal loops, along with gross alteration of villous architecture and loss of goblet cells...
January 4, 2022: Cell Reports