By David Robinson

LITTLE ROCK — A discovery at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) that a viral protein helps a cancer-associated herpesvirus evade the immune system has led to a five-year, $2.9 million research grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Craig Forrest, Ph.D., will use the grant to help reveal functions of the viral protein known as latency-associated nuclear antigen (LANA). The research is focused on LANA’s roles during infection by the gamma herpesvirus known as Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV).

Forrest, a professor in the College of Medicine Department of Microbiology and Immunology, hopes the work will someday lead to a vaccine for Kaposi sarcoma and other cancers caused by gamma herpesviruses.

UAMS Receives $2.9 Million NIH Grant to Study Virus that Can Trigger Cancers

UAMS researcher Craig Forrest, Ph.D. (center), and his lab team hope their work will ultimately lead to a cancer vaccine. With Forrest are (l-r) Sheldon Zeltner, Chandra Penthala, Shana Owens, Ph.D., and Steven Murdock, Jr. ***Image by Bryan Clifton***

By Seth Hooker

A possible link between gammaherpesviruses and lymphomas will receive further study at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) with a National Cancer Institute (NCI) grant.

The five-year, $1.25 million grant renewal will mostly support ongoing work to better understand how gammaherpesvirus promotes mutations (chromosomal translocations) that lead to lymphomas. In addition, the grant will allow UAMS’ Craig Forrest, Ph.D., to study the possible link between combined malaria and gammaherpesvirus infections in the development of lymphoma.

The funding will also help further Forrest’s work on earlier discoveries related to the tumor-suppressor protein, p53. The protein, his lab found, is critical for preventing chronic infection from gammaherpesviruses.

https://news.uams.edu/2022/06/22/nci-funds-uams-study-of-possible-links-between-gammaherpesvirus-infections-and-lymphomas/