PHILADELPHIA — The National Cancer Institute has awarded $10.3 million over five years to a group of Penn researchers to investigate the early events of Kaposi’s sarcoma associated herpesvirus infection and its implication for developing therapeutics in treating associated cancers.
Erle S. Robertson Ph.D., professor of Microbiology, at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, heads the team of Penn faculty who will be conducting the research.
“This funding comes at an opportune time when funding is extremely limited from the NIH and provides support to pursue a difficult area of research not previously explored due to lack of funding or difficulty in obtaining funding,” says Robertson. “The program will explore the early events after infection with the oncogenic herpesvirus in primary cells and allows for breakthroughs which are likely to be fundamental to our understanding of the events that lead to a successful infection which goes on to a transformed state.”
Kaposi’s sarcoma associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is associated with a number of human cancers, in particular AIDS associated Kaposi sarcoma (KS) and pleural effusion lymphomas, as well as Multicentric Castlemen’s Disease.
KSHV was identified 15 years ago and has been tackled mostly on a level of the individual investigator. This award brings together three groups of investigators, which includes Paul Lieberman, PhD (The Wistar Institute) and Yan Yuan, PhD (Penn Dental School), within the Penn community to join their scientific expertise to address the mechanism of KSHV-mediated oncogenesis.
The overall goal is to investigate the mechanism of viral control by encoded antigens during the early stages of infection of primary B cells. The fundamental cellular processes targeted during these early stages will provide new information as to the strict requirements for successful establishment of latency by the virus.
The success of these projects will allow for a more comprehensive view of KSHV infection and pathogenesis and provide new clues for the development of strategies to prevent and treat KSHV associated cancers, endemic and in the HIV population.
In addition, the accumulation of new information on KSHV biology will be critical for the broader area of herpesvirus biology to gain insights into the mechanism of oncogenesis associated with other viruses, including Epstein Barr virus.
Penn Medicine is one of the world’s leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, excellence in patient care, and community service. The organization consists of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Penn’s Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine, founded in 1765 as the nation’s first medical school.
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