Earlier this year, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine identified a link between a critical cancer pathway and an Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) protein known to be expressed in a number of EBV-associated cancers. Their findings demonstrated a new mechanism by which EBV can transform human B cells from the immune system into cancerous cells, which can lead to B-cell lymphomas. Now, they have found that the viral protein--called EBNA3C (for EBV nuclear antigen)--mediates the degradation of the retinoblastoma protein, an important molecular brake for cell proliferation. Erle S. Robertson, PhD, an Associate Professor of Microbiology who leads the Tumor Virology Program at Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center, and MD/PhD student Jason Knight, published their results last week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
