The long term objective of this study is to develop a deeper understanding of persistent infection with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). EBV has the capacity to drive the proliferation of resting B lymphocytes and this makes it a risk factor for human cancers such as Hodgkin's disease, Burkitt's lymphoma, immunoblastic lymphoma and nasopharyngeal carcinoma. However, the virus is able to persist in a quiescent state in vivo where it specifically targets resting memory B cells. By understanding how EBV can persist in most individuals without causing disease we hope to gain insight into what goes wrong when the virus does cause neoplastic disease. This study wilt employ sophisticated cell fractionation techniques and quantitative RealTime DNA and RT PCR assays to address four unresolved issues around EBV persistence. 1. Does acute EBV infection, infectious mononucleosis (AIM), represent a disordered state of EBV infection or simply an amplified version of the stable, long term carrier state? 2. Does EBV, like other herpesviruses, shut off the expression of all protein coding genes when it reaches its final site of persistence - long lived memory B cells in the peripheral blood? 3. What is the nature and origin of the latently infected memory cells proposed as the site of EBV persistence? Are they bona fide memory cells? Does antigen play a role in the production and/or maintenance of these memory cells or do latent proteins perform these functions? How rapidly do the infected cells turn over? 4. Are epithelial cells of the nasopharyngeal lymphoid system e.g. tonsils infected with EBV in vivo or infectable in vitro? Previous studies have analyzed EBV infection of epithelial cell lines and tissues from sites other than the site of persistent infection - the nasopharyngeal lymphoid tissue. However, epithelial tissues are biologically diverse so we will focus our studies on the biologically relevant epithelium from the tonsil.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
2R01AI018757-21
Application #
6576160
Study Section
Virology Study Section (VR)
Program Officer
Beisel, Christopher E
Project Start
1981-09-01
Project End
2008-01-31
Budget Start
2003-02-10
Budget End
2004-01-31
Support Year
21
Fiscal Year
2003
Total Cost
$371,545
Indirect Cost
Name
Tufts University
Department
Pathology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
039318308
City
Boston
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02111
Thorley-Lawson, David; Deitsch, Kirk W; Duca, Karen A et al. (2016) The Link between Plasmodium falciparum Malaria and Endemic Burkitt's Lymphoma-New Insight into a 50-Year-Old Enigma. PLoS Pathog 12:e1005331
Qiu, Jin; Smith, Pamela; Leahy, Leah et al. (2015) The Epstein-Barr virus encoded BART miRNAs potentiate tumor growth in vivo. PLoS Pathog 11:e1004561
Thorley-Lawson, David A (2015) EBV Persistence--Introducing the Virus. Curr Top Microbiol Immunol 390:151-209
Torgbor, Charles; Awuah, Peter; Deitsch, Kirk et al. (2014) A multifactorial role for P. falciparum malaria in endemic Burkitt's lymphoma pathogenesis. PLoS Pathog 10:e1004170
Qiu, Jin; Thorley-Lawson, David A (2014) EBV microRNA BART 18-5p targets MAP3K2 to facilitate persistence in vivo by inhibiting viral replication in B cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 111:11157-62
Hawkins, Jared B; Delgado-Eckert, Edgar; Thorley-Lawson, David A et al. (2013) The cycle of EBV infection explains persistence, the sizes of the infected cell populations and which come under CTL regulation. PLoS Pathog 9:e1003685
Thorley-Lawson, David A; Hawkins, Jared B; Tracy, Sean I et al. (2013) The pathogenesis of Epstein-Barr virus persistent infection. Curr Opin Virol 3:227-32
Tracy, Sean I; Kakalacheva, Kristina; Lunemann, Jan D et al. (2012) Persistence of Epstein-Barr virus in self-reactive memory B cells. J Virol 86:12330-40
Smith, Pamela A; Merritt, David; Barr, Leah et al. (2011) An orthotopic model of metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma and its application in elucidating a therapeutic target that inhibits metastasis. Genes Cancer 2:1023-33
Hawkins, Jared B; Jones, Mark T; Plassmann, Paul E et al. (2011) Chemotaxis in densely populated tissue determines germinal center anatomy and cell motility: a new paradigm for the development of complex tissues. PLoS One 6:e27650

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