Mechanisms and novel therapies of retrovirus-induced diseases
It is estimated that 20 million people are infected with human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) worldwide. Among them, 2-5% will develop one of the major HTLV-1 associated diseases (ATLL Adult T cell leukaemia/lymphoma or HAM/TSP HTLV-associated myelopathy / Tropical Spastic Paraparesis). Bovine leukemia virus (BLV) is a closely related retrovirus infecting B lymphocytes and inducing leukemia/lymphoma in cattle. A major feature of the infection induced by both viruses is transcriptional silencing which allows proviruses to escape recognition and destruction by the host immune response.
Ongoing projects include (1) The role of non-coding RNA expressed by BLV/HTLV in oncogenicity, (2) The mechanisms of DNA repair and tolerance to DNA damage, (3) A life attenuated vaccine against BLV
