Research
Research Programs
Molecular Virology
Program Members | Research Highlights | Contacts
Virus infection is responsible for at least 10% of human cancer worldwide, and there may well be additional viruses that have as-yet-unrecognized roles in human carcinogenesis. Viral diseases are also a major cause of complications and death in cancer patients. Furthermore, because infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) suppresses the immune system, HIV infection and AIDS are indirectly responsible for many other cancers. The recognition of a cancer as virus-associated provides numerous opportunities to prevent or treat the cancer. For example, approved vaccines against human papillomaviruses and hepatitis B virus have the potential to cause a dramatic decrease in the incidence of cervical, liver, and other cancers.
The members of the Molecular Virology Program are determining the mechanisms of viral carcinogenesis. These studies will provide novel approaches to prevent and treat tumors caused by viruses and are also likely to provide insight into non-viral tumors. Indeed, much of our understanding of carcinogenesis in general is the result of the analysis of tumor viruses. In addition, virally induced tumors express viral proteins that may serve as targets for novel anti-viral chemotherapeutic and immunization strategies with the potential to cure cancers. Finally, we are trying to harness the ability of certain viruses to preferentially kill cancer cells as a novel strategy to treat non-viral tumors that respond poorly to conventional treatment approaches.
Daniel DiMaio, MD, PhD, Program Director; Scientific Director, Yale Cancer Center; Waldemar Von Zedtwitz Professor of Genetics; Professor of Therapeutic Radiology and Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry
Janet Brandsma, PhD, Associate Professor of Comparative Medicine and Pathology
Frank Giordano, MD, Associate Professor of Internal Medicine
Akiko Iwasaki, PhD, Associate Professor of Immunobiology
Susan Kaech, PhD, Assistant Professor of Immunobiology
Brett Lindenbach, PhD, Assistant Professor of Microbial Pathogenesis
Robert Means, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pathology
George Miller, MD, Enders Professor of Pediatrics; Professor of Epidemiology Professor of Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry
Walther Mothes, PhD, Associate Professor of Microbial Pathogenesis
Anna Pyle, PhD, William Edward Gilbert Professor of Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry
Michael Robek, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pathology
John Rose, PhD, Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology
Joan A. Steitz, PhD, Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry
Peter Tattersall, PhD, Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Genetics
Anthony van den Pol, PhD, Professor of Neurosurgery
- Development of methods to grow hepatitis C virus in the laboratory and study the biochemical activities of the viral proteins (Drs. Lindenbach and Pyle). Hepatitis C virus causes a large fraction of liver cancer worldwide.
- Discovery of the mechanism by which Epstein-Barr virus switches from a quiescent to an actively growing state (Dr. Miller). Epstein-Barr virus causes certain types of lymphomas, including disease in transplant recipients; Hodgkins Disease; and certain solid tumors.
- Demonstration that human papillomavirus proteins expressed in cervical cancer cells are targets for cancer therapy (Dr. DiMaio). Human papillomaviruses cause cervical and other anogenital cancers and some head-and-neck cancers.
- Discovery of novel signals in Kaposi Sarcoma herpes virus that regulate viral and cellular gene expression (Dr. Steitz). Kaposi Sarcoma herpes virus causes sarcomas in AIDS patients as well as some lymphomas.
- Development of novel vaccines that prevent HIV infection in primates and papillomavirus-induced tumors in experimental animals (Drs. Rose and Brandsma). The HIV vaccine will soon enter clinical trials.
- Analysis of viruses that preferentially kill human glioblastoma cells (Drs. van den Pol, Tattersall, and Rose).
- Discovery of novel processes by which viruses enter cells and initiate infection (Dr. Mothes).
- Discovery of the strategies used by viruses to stimulate and avoid the immune response (Drs. Means, Iwasaki, Keach, and Robek).
- Development of methods to use viral vectors to deliver therapeutic proteins into cells (Dr. Giordano).
Contact
Daniel DiMaio, MD, PhD, Program Director
(203) 785-2684
daniel.dimaio@yale.edu