Finding of key cell protein gives hope for Ebola cure

A protein that helps transport cholesterol inside cells may be key to developing drugs to treat Ebola, a rare but lethal virus for which there are no known treatments, US researchers say.

Laboratory mice bred to produce low levels of this protein - known as Niemann-Pick C1 - survived exposure to both Ebola, which causes a hemorrhagic fever, and its cousin, Marburg virus.

"This research identifies a critical cellular protein that the Ebola virus needs to cause infection and disease," says Sean Whelan of Harvard Medical School, who worked on one of two studies published in the journal Nature.