The LSUHSC research team, which also includes Kenneth Johnston, PhD, Professor of Microbiology, and Timothy Foster, PhD, Assistant Professor of Microbiology and faculty of the LSUHSC Gene Therapy Program, investigated a small region of a certain Epstein-Barr virus protein called EBNA1, to determine the role it plays in the activation of the EBV genes responsible for the indiscriminate growth of tumor cells in these cancers. Their research shows that EBNA1 is controlled by oxidative stress (pathologic changes in response to excessive levels of free radicals) within the EBV-infected cells. Varying levels of oxidative stress change EBNA1's ability to activate EBV genes responsible for indiscriminate tumor cell growth.

"We have shown that in vitro, existing therapeutics such as Vitamin K that can change oxidative stress within cells, inactivate EBNA1," notes Dr. Aiyar, who is also a member of the faculty of the LSUHSC Stanley S. Scott Cancer Center. "As a consequence, EBV genes required for proliferation are no longer expressed, and malignantly transformed cells stop proliferating."

The research was funded by grants from the National Cancer Institute, the Louisiana Cancer Research Consortium, and the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Parasitology at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans School of Medicine.

"It is our hope that this research will lead to new ways of controlling EBV-associated diseases in humans," concludes Dr. Aiyar.

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