Research Roundup: Leadership shifts at USAID, new discoveries in tuberculosis research, an emerging model for nonprofit pharmaceutical companies, and more

Scientists at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have identified the protein that explains why people with blood type O are protected from coma and death resulting from severe cases of malaria. Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite responsible for nearly all fatal cases of malaria, releases the RIFIN protein, which causes red blood cells to stick to one another and restrict blood flow, resulting in tissue damage and death. The study, published last week, establishes that the RIFIN protein insufficiently attaches to type O blood cells, despite its strong adherence to type A blood cells. This results in different health outcomes for those with type O blood, as they avoid the severe effects of the parasite. An article in Al Jazeera explored the history of Ebola vaccine research and development (R&D) and the barriers to conducting clinical trials in Sierra Leone today. While Ebola vaccine research began more than ten years ago, multiple promising vaccine candidates have remained in limbo due to a paucity of funding. Last fall, the US government partnered with pharmaceutical companies to expedite the R&D of experimental Ebola vaccines in light of the epidemic in West Africa. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. are preparing for clinical trials in Sierra Leone involving 6,000-8,000 health workers. Health workers have expressed concern regarding the safety of the vaccine, and outreach to health workers and potential participants—which the CDC plans to conduct a few weeks prior to the start of the trial—may present a greater challenge than originally anticipated. A new diagnostic device, called the Microlife Vital Signs Alert, could save up to 70,000 mothers each year by alerting health care workers when a woman is at risk of going into shock due to blood loss during childbirth, or if her blood pressure is dangerously high. The device, which only costs US $20, is easy to use and interpret, enabling health care workers—regardless of education and training—to identify when a woman needs to be taken to a hospital with a simple red light.

A new compound has successfully protected monkeys from HIV, according to a study published in Nature last week. The compound stimulates the production of claw-shaped proteins that are able to simultaneously block the two different parts of white blood cells—the CD4 and CCR5 binding sites—to which the HIV virus normally attaches. After scientists at the Scripps Research Institute “vaccinated” monkeys with the compound, they repeatedly tried and failed to infect the monkeys with large doses of varied HIV strains over the course of a year. The team will next test if they are able to slow the replication of virus and the progress of the diseases in monkeys infected with HIV, before starting human trials. Last week, the World Health Organization approved the ReEBOV Antigen Rapid Test for Ebola, which requires only a test tube and a piece of paper and can provide results in approximately 15 minutes. The test is simple to administer and interpret, with the lead developer explaining “a drop of blood is placed on the paper, and if two lines appear, then it’s positive for Ebola.” The use of blood, however, requires a ‘biosafety cabinet’ in the form of either a box or a tent that can protect health workers from the virus. The test also has specificity and sensitivity issues, only detecting 92% of cases and with approximately 15% of uninfected people testing positive for Ebola. CBS correspondent Bob Simon investigated ZMapp, an experimental drug for Ebola, as part of his final story for 60 minutes before his death last month. Prior to the current Ebola epidemic, ZMapp had only been tested on monkeys; however, last summer, it was used to treat seven patients, five of whom survived. The US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases commenced clinical trials for ZMapp in Liberia on Friday. ZMapp is created using tobacco plants, which are saturated with a gene that stimulates the production of Ebola-fighting antibodies. As the plant grows, increasing rates of antibodies are produced—a process Simon likened to “a Xerox machine for antibodies.” Secretary of State John Kerry testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee last Wednesday on the US Department of State’s 2016 budget proposal. The Committee’s Ranking Member Eliot Engel (D-NY) emphasized the importance of global health “research, infrastructure, and personnel,” in preventing future epidemics such as the Ebola crisis in West Africa and expressed his dismay at “proposed cuts to global health programs dealing with tuberculosis [and] neglected tropical diseases.”