Neelam Sharma-Walia
Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, IL·Microbiology & Immunology
Some viruses can cause cancer, and patients with weakened immune systems are especially at risk. Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV, also called HHV-8) causes Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), a tumor of blood-vessel lining cells and the most common vascular cancer in people with HIV.
- Fields
Microbiology & Immunology
Medicine & Clinical Research
Pharmacology
- Topics
Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus
primary effusion lymphoma
gammaherpesvirus
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Dec 2026
What they work on
- Determine how KSHV infection turns up the host protein nucleolin and whether nucleolin is needed to keep the virus in its quiet latent state, studying infected endothelial cells and primary effusion lymphoma cells.
- Evaluate the anticancer potential of AS1411, a DNA aptamer that binds nucleolin, for treating Kaposi's sarcoma and primary effusion lymphoma, building on findings that it shifts viral gene expression and kills infected PEL cells.
- Examine how blocking or silencing nucleolin changes the balance between KSHV latent genes such as LANA-1 (ORF73) and lytic genes such as ORF50 in infected cells.
More about the research
It also causes primary effusion lymphoma (PEL), a rare, aggressive B-cell cancer with a poor outlook. Combined antiretroviral therapy has reduced these cancers in the US, but KSHV still causes many deaths in the developing world. There is a need for well-tolerated drugs aimed specifically at KSHV.
Why it matters
People with HIV or other immune weakness who develop Kaposi's sarcoma or primary effusion lymphoma need targeted, well-tolerated treatments, especially in the developing world where KSHV still causes many deaths. Showing that blocking nucleolin with the aptamer AS1411 disrupts the virus could point to a new therapy, and the same strategy may apply to other virus-caused cancers.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
David Morgens
Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center-Shreveport, LA·Microbiology & Immunology·Early-career
Identify mutations in KSHV's DNA replication proteins that block late gene expression but still allow viral DNA copying, using a high-throughput method for making and testing many viral mutants.
Dirk P Dittmer
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC·Microbiology & Immunology
Develop fully immunocompetent transgenic mice carrying the complete Epstein-Barr virus genome to model EBV-driven epithelial cancers such as nasopharyngeal and gastric carcinoma, and test the in vivo roles of EBV transcription, microRNAs and proteins.
Allison Didychuk
Yale University, CT·Microbiology & Immunology·Early-career
Determine the function of an essential but poorly understood herpesvirus packaging factor using proteomics and microscopy, and develop deep mutational scanning (testing many mutations at once) for herpesviral proteins.
The school
Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science: 4 labs on PI Pages, $12M a year on research, 15 research doctorates a year.
More about Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
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