The Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa made headlines in 2014 for infecting and causing death to over 28,600 and 11,300 people respectively. Health officials had struggled a lot to control the epidemic.

Recently, a number of antibodies from the blood of a survivor of recent Ebola outbreak were found effective in killing the deadly Ebola virus in mice by a team of researchers. The detailed findings of research were published in the journal Science.

What now is seen as a ray of hope by researchers is that the antibodies could help device vaccine for curing patients with Ebola diseases.

“Our Science paper describes the first in-depth view into the human antibody response to Ebola virus,” said team leader Laura Walker, senior scientist at Adimab LLC, and an alumna of TSRI’s PhD program.

The scientists were able to do research with the help of biotech company Adimab. The Ebola survivor from whom blood samples were taken was referred as subject 45.

Before the recent discovery of antibiotics, the researchers thought that the virus was deadly and affects immune system. More than 300 antibiotics were found to target Ebola virus surface glycoprotein, a structure that the virus uses to latch on to host cells.

According to researchers, 77% of the antibodies had potential to neutralize the Ebola virus, while many of those showed protection against virus in mice.

The researchers will not only help in finding the cure against Ebola, but also for curing any other potential disease from Ebola virus mutates. Similar techniques could be used to find treatment for disease caused by Zika virus, which has been affecting many people in Brazil.