Ebola and Cholesterol Transport Inhibitors.

So does this mean that small molecule cholesterol transport inhibitors may provide some protection against Ebola?

I suspect that the bio-weapons folks have been actively studying Ebola and Marburg for some number of decades. Given the nature of power it is not all that unlikely that this stuff has not been evolving in some African Bat Colony.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marburg_virus

"Niemann-Pick C1 (NPC1) appears to be essential for Ebola and Marburg virus infection. Two independent studies reported in the same issue of Nature (journal) showed that Ebola virus cell entry and replication requires the cholesterol transporter protein NPC1.[44][45] When cells from patients lacking NPC1 were exposed to Ebola virus in the laboratory, the cells survived and appeared immune to the virus, further indicating that Ebola relies on NPC1 to enter cells. This might imply that genetic mutations in the NPC1 gene in humans could make some people resistant to one of the deadliest known viruses affecting humans. The same studies described similar results with Ebola's cousin in the filovirus group, Marburg virus, showing that it too needs NPC1 to enter cells.[44][45] Furthermore, NPC1 was shown to be critical to filovirus entry because it mediates infection by binding directly to the viral envelope glycoprotein.[45] A later study confirmed the findings that NPC1 is a critical filovirus receptor that mediates infection by binding directly to the viral envelope glycoprotein and that the second lysosomal domain of NPC1 mediates this binding.[46]

In one of the original studies, a small molecule was shown to inhibit Ebola virus infection by preventing the virus glycoprotein from binding to NPC1.[45][47] In the other study, mice that were heterozygous for NPC1 were shown to be protected from lethal challenge with mouse adapted Ebola virus.[44] Together, these studies suggest NPC1 may be potential therapeutic target for an Ebola anti-viral drug."