Over forty years of extensive research has not yet solved the complexity of Ebola pathogenesis leading to a continued need for a successful cure. This virus has evolved different strategies to counteract immune responses as they are unreceptive to a large portion of the known antiviral drugs and there is no valid treatment as to date for disease created by this pathogen. A plethora of evidences have revealed that monocytes/macrophage contribute significantly in viral pathogenesis.
To interpret how macrophages and effector molecules respond against Zaire Ebola virus infections we evaluated the expression of genes that typically distinguish M0 and M1/M2 subsets by microarray dataset analysis.
We identified differentially expressed genes including in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of Ebola infected Cynemologus macaques employing the reference gene expression dataset GSE5099 obtained from the NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/) database.
Microarray analysis showed that the 3th and 4th days post infection was characterized by a massive presence of M1/MΦs as indicated by the expression of pro-inflammatory mediators. Nevertheless, a significant presence of M2 was observed until the 5th day post infection. Moreover, we observed a gradual evolution in the gene expression patterns of markers such as TLRs, OASs, HLA and Chitinase-like-lectins over time from day 0 to day 6, usually with a more significant change at 4th day, resulting in the separation of the early acute (day 0 to day 3) and late acute phases (day 3 to day 6).
Collectively, this revised analysis provided new avenues of research on Ebola pathogenesis and persistence contributing for the future development of more effective anti-Ebola diagnostic and therapeutic interventions that may pave the way to viral eradication.