High-Dose Mannose-Binding Lectin Therapy for Ebola Virus Infection

Michelow, Ian C.; Lear, Calli; Scully, Corinne; Prugar, Laura I.; Longley, Clifford B.; Yantosca, L. Michael; Ji, Xin; Karpel, Marshall; Brudner, Matthew; Takahashi, Kazue; Spear, Gregory T.; Ezekowitz, R. Alan B.; Schmidt, Emmett V.; Olinger, Gene G.

We used a validated lethal Ebola Zaire mouse model developed at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) [10] , with a double plaque-purified, mouseadapted, Ebola isolate, EZ'76 Mp3 Vp2 Mp9 GH. The virus was inoculated intraperitoneally (i.p.) at 100 pfu (3000 3 LD 50 ) producing uniformly lethal disease in C57B6 mice using biosafety level-4 facilities. Research was conducted in compliance with the Animal Welfare Act and federal regulations in a fully accredited facility. To assess the effect of rhMBL on virus lethality, we treated Ebola virus-infected C57B6 mice i.p. with either 4.3 mg/kg or 20 mg/kg of rhMBL twice daily $12 hours apart for 10 days. On the day of virus exposure, mice were treated and exposed to 100 pfu of mouse-adapted Ebola Zaire either 12 hours before or 1 hour after the first dose of rhMBL as indicated in Figure 1 .