Scholars@Duke
Micah Alan Luftig

Micah Alan Luftig

Alter Geller Distinguished Professor in Immunology
Molecular Genetics and Microbiology
micah.luftig@duke.edu
Duke Box 3054, 424 CARL, Durham, NC 27710
213 Research Dr, CARL 0036, BOX_3054, Durham, NC 27710

Selected Publications

Dissecting Epstein-Barr Virus Dependence Across Diverse Infected Cell Models.

Journal Article bioRxiv · December 19, 2025 Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is maintained clonally in a wide array of tumors and cells of lymphoproliferative disorders, yet the degree to which these infected cells continuously depend on EBV remains unresolved. To directly assess EBV dependence, we used two ... Full text Link to item Cite

EBNA2 and EBNA-LP: The Earliest Viral Latency Proteins.

Journal Article Curr Top Microbiol Immunol · December 3, 2025 EBNA2 and EBNA-LP are the earliest expressed viral latency proteins following Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection of B cells and are essential for cellular transformation and immortalization. Both proteins are co-expressed during latency IIb and III states ... Full text Link to item Cite

Single-Cell Profiling of HDAC Inhibitor-Induced EBV Lytic Heterogeneity Defines Abortive and Refractory States in B Lymphoblasts.

Journal Article bioRxiv · October 9, 2025 Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is associated with multiple malignancies including Burkitt lymphoma (BL), Hodgkin's lymphomas, nasopharyngeal carcinomas (NPC), and gastric cancers. Canonically, EBV positive tumors display latent gene expression programs that are ... Full text Link to item Cite

Human genetic variation reveals FCRL3 is a lymphocyte receptor for Yersinia pestis.

Journal Article Cell Genom · September 10, 2025 Yersinia pestis is the bacterium responsible for plague, one of the deadliest diseases in history. To discover human genetic determinants of Y. pestis infection, we utilized nearly 1,000 genetically diverse lymphoblastoid cell lines in a cellular genome-wi ... Full text Link to item Cite

Sp140L functions as a herpesvirus restriction factor suppressing viral transcription and activating interferon-stimulated genes.

Journal Article Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · June 24, 2025 Herpesviruses, including Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) - a human oncogenic virus and essential trigger of multiple sclerosis - must bypass host DNA-sensing mechanisms to establish lifelong, latent infection. Therefore, herpesviruses encode viral proteins to dis ... Full text Link to item Cite

Early multiple sclerosis activity associated with TBX21+CD21loCXCR3+ B cell expansion resembling EBV-induced phenotypes.

Journal Article JCI Insight · June 23, 2025 Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection precedes multiple sclerosis (MS) onset and plays a poorly understood etiologic role. To investigate possible viral pathogenesis, we analyzed single-cell expression in peripheral B cells from people with early MS collected ... Full text Link to item Cite

EBNA leader protein orchestrates chromatin architecture remodeling during Epstein-Barr virus-induced B cell transformation.

Journal Article Nucleic Acids Res · June 20, 2025 Epstein-Barr virus Nuclear Antigen Leader Protein (EBNA-LP) plays a pivotal role in the transformation of B cells by Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), functioning independently of EBNA2 to regulate chromatin architecture and gene expression. Our study reveals that ... Full text Link to item Cite

Incorporation of Epstein-Barr viral variation implicates significance of Latent Membrane Protein 1 in survival prediction and prognostic subgrouping in Burkitt lymphoma.

Journal Article Int J Cancer · June 1, 2025 Although Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) plays a role in Burkitt lymphoma (BL) tumorigenesis, it is unclear if EBV genetic variation impacts clinical outcomes. From 130 publicly available whole-genome tumor sequences of EBV-positive BL patients, we used least abs ... Full text Link to item Cite

Fatty acid desaturases link cell metabolism pathways to promote proliferation of Epstein-Barr virus-infected B cells.

Journal Article PLoS Pathog · May 2025 Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a gamma herpesvirus that infects up to 95% of the human population by adulthood, typically remaining latent in the host memory B cell pool. In immunocompromised individuals, EBV can drive the transformation and rapid proliferati ... Full text Link to item Cite

Sp140L Is a Novel Herpesvirus Restriction Factor.

Journal Article bioRxiv · April 12, 2025 UNLABELLED: Herpesviruses, including Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) - a human oncogenic viruses and essential trigger of multiple sclerosis, must bypass host DNA sensing mechanisms to establish lifelong, latent infection. Therefore, herpesviruses encode viral pr ... Full text Link to item Cite

Comparison of nanopore with illumina whole genome assemblies of the Epstein-Barr virus in Burkitt lymphoma.

Journal Article Sci Rep · March 31, 2025 Endemic Burkitt lymphoma (eBL) is one of the most prevalent cancer in children in sub-Saharan Africa, and while prior studies have found that Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) type and variation may alter the tumor driver genes necessary for tumor survival, the pre ... Full text Link to item Cite

Multiple sclerosis and infection: history, EBV, and the search for mechanism.

Journal Article Microbiol Mol Biol Rev · March 27, 2025 SUMMARYInfection has long been hypothesized as the cause of multiple sclerosis (MS), and recent evidence for Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) as the trigger of MS is clear and compelling. This clarity contrasts with yet uncertain viral mechanisms and their relatio ... Full text Link to item Cite

Epstein-Barr virus reactivation induces divergent abortive, reprogrammed, and host shutoff states by lytic progression.

Journal Article PLoS Pathog · October 2024 Viral infection leads to heterogeneous cellular outcomes ranging from refractory to abortive and fully productive states. Single cell transcriptomics enables a high resolution view of these distinct post-infection states. Here, we have interrogated the hos ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Epstein-Barr virus protein EBNA-LP engages YY1 through leucine-rich motifs to promote naïve B cell transformation.

Journal Article PLoS Pathog · July 2024 Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) is associated with numerous cancers including B cell lymphomas. In vitro, EBV transforms primary B cells into immortalized Lymphoblastoid Cell Lines (LCLs) which serves as a model to study the role of viral proteins in EBV malignan ... Full text Link to item Cite

Epstein-Barr virus reactivation induces divergent abortive, reprogrammed, and host shutoff states by lytic progression.

Journal Article bioRxiv · June 14, 2024 Viral infection leads to heterogeneous cellular outcomes ranging from refractory to abortive and fully productive states. Single cell transcriptomics enables a high resolution view of these distinct post-infection states. Here, we have interrogated the hos ... Full text Link to item Cite

Virology-the path forward.

Journal Article J Virol · January 23, 2024 In the United States (US), biosafety and biosecurity oversight of research on viruses is being reappraised. Safety in virology research is paramount and oversight frameworks should be reviewed periodically. Changes should be made with care, however, to avo ... Full text Link to item Cite

Epstein-Barr virus induces germinal center light zone chromatin architecture and promotes survival through enhancer looping at the BCL2A1 locus.

Journal Article mBio · January 16, 2024 Epstein-Barr virus has evolved with its human host leading to an intimate relationship where infection of antibody-producing B cells mimics the process by which these cells normally recognize foreign antigens and become activated. Virtually everyone in the ... Full text Link to item Cite

Epstein-Barr virus protein EBNA-LP engages YY1 through leucine-rich motifs to promote naïve B cell transformation.

Journal Article bioRxiv · January 8, 2024 Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) is associated with numerous cancers including B cell lymphomas. In vitro, EBV transforms primary B cells into immortalized Lymphoblastoid Cell Lines (LCLs) which serves as a model to study the role of viral proteins in EBV malignan ... Full text Link to item Cite

Viral and host factors drive a type 1 Epstein-Barr virus spontaneous lytic phenotype.

Journal Article mBio · December 19, 2023 Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infects over 95% of adults worldwide. Given its connection to various cancers and autoimmune disorders, it is important to understand the mechanisms by which infection with EBV can lead to these diseases. In this study, we describe ... Full text Link to item Cite

CBF-Beta Mitigates PI3K-Alpha-Specific Inhibitor Killing through PIM1 in PIK3CA-Mutant Gastric Cancer.

Journal Article Mol Cancer Res · November 1, 2023 UNLABELLED: PIK3CA is the second most mutated gene in cancer leading to aberrant PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling and increased translation, proliferation, and survival. Some 4%-25% of gastric cancers display activating PIK3CA mutations, including 80% of Epstein-Ba ... Full text Link to item Cite

A low-background, fluorescent assay to evaluate inhibitors of diverse viral proteases.

Journal Article J Virol · August 31, 2023 Multiple coronaviruses (CoVs) can cause respiratory diseases in humans. While prophylactic vaccines designed to prevent infection are available for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), incomplete vaccine efficacy, vaccine hesitancy ... Full text Link to item Cite

Epstein-Barr virus evades restrictive host chromatin closure by subverting B cell activation and germinal center regulatory loci.

Journal Article Cell Rep · August 29, 2023 Chromatin accessibility fundamentally governs gene expression and biological response programs that can be manipulated by pathogens. Here we capture dynamic chromatin landscapes of individual B cells during Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection. EBV+ cells th ... Full text Link to item Cite

An allosteric inhibitor of sirtuin 2 deacetylase activity exhibits broad-spectrum antiviral activity.

Journal Article J Clin Invest · June 15, 2023 Most drugs used to treat viral disease target a virus-coded product. They inhibit a single virus or virus family, and the pathogen can readily evolve resistance. Host-targeted antivirals can overcome these limitations. The broad-spectrum activity achieved ... Full text Link to item Cite

Endemic Burkitt lymphoma avatar mouse models for exploring inter-patient tumor variation and testing targeted therapies.

Journal Article Life Sci Alliance · May 2023 Endemic Burkitt lymphoma (BL) is a childhood cancer in sub-Saharan Africa characterized by Epstein-Barr virus and malaria-associated aberrant B-cell activation and MYC chromosomal translocation. Survival rates hover at 50% after conventional chemotherapies ... Full text Link to item Cite

Virology under the Microscope-a Call for Rational Discourse.

Journal Article mSphere · April 20, 2023 Viruses have brought humanity many challenges: respiratory infection, cancer, neurological impairment and immunosuppression to name a few. Virology research over the last 60+ years has responded to reduce this disease burden with vaccines and antivirals. D ... Full text Link to item Cite

Evaluation of host cellular responses to Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in adult lung transplant patients with EBV-associated diseases.

Journal Article J Med Virol · April 2023 Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) reactivation is commonly observed in lung transplant recipients (LTRs). However, cellular immune responses to EBV in adult LTRs have not been well described. We aimed to study CD4/CD8 ratio, EBV-specific T cells polyfunctional resp ... Full text Link to item Cite

Virology under the Microscope-a Call for Rational Discourse.

Journal Article mBio · February 28, 2023 Viruses have brought humanity many challenges: respiratory infection, cancer, neurological impairment and immunosuppression to name a few. Virology research over the last 60+ years has responded to reduce this disease burden with vaccines and antivirals. D ... Full text Link to item Cite

Virology under the Microscope-a Call for Rational Discourse.

Journal Article J Virol · February 28, 2023 Viruses have brought humanity many challenges: respiratory infection, cancer, neurological impairment and immunosuppression to name a few. Virology research over the last 60+ years has responded to reduce this disease burden with vaccines and antivirals. D ... Full text Link to item Cite

Time-resolved transcriptomes reveal diverse B cell fate trajectories in the early response to Epstein-Barr virus infection.

Journal Article Cell Rep · August 30, 2022 Epstein-Barr virus infection of B lymphocytes elicits diverse host responses via well-adapted transcriptional control dynamics. Consequently, this host-pathogen interaction provides a powerful system to explore fundamental processes leading to consensus fa ... Full text Link to item Cite

Infection and inflammation: New perspectives on Alzheimer's disease.

Journal Article Brain Behav Immun Health · July 2022 Neuroinflammation has been recognized as a component of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) pathology since the original descriptions by Alois Alzheimer and a role for infections in AD pathogenesis has long been hypothesized. More recently, this hypothesis has gained ... Full text Link to item Cite

Epstein-Barr virus perpetuates B cell germinal center dynamics and generation of autoimmune-associated phenotypes in vitro.

Journal Article Front Immunol · 2022 Human B cells encompass functionally diverse lineages and phenotypic states that contribute to protective as well as pathogenic responses. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) provides a unique lens for studying heterogeneous B cell responses, given its adaptation to ... Full text Link to item Cite

Massively parallel quantification of phenotypic heterogeneity in single-cell drug responses.

Journal Article Sci Adv · September 17, 2021 Single-cell analysis tools have made substantial advances in characterizing genomic heterogeneity; however, tools for measuring phenotypic heterogeneity have lagged due to the increased difficulty of handling live biology. Here, we report a single-cell phe ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Evidence of Epstein-Barr virus heterogeneous gene expression in adult lung transplant recipients with posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder.

Journal Article J Med Virol · August 2021 Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-driven posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) is a serious complication following lung transplant. The extent to which the presence of EBV in PTLD tissue is associated with survival is uncertain. Moreover, whether the h ... Full text Link to item Cite

Monocarboxylate transporter antagonism reveals metabolic vulnerabilities of viral-driven lymphomas.

Journal Article Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · June 22, 2021 Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a ubiquitous herpesvirus that typically causes asymptomatic infection but can promote B lymphoid tumors in the immune suppressed. In vitro, EBV infection of primary B cells stimulates glycolysis during immortalization into lymph ... Full text Link to item Cite

Highly recurrent CBS epimutations in gastric cancer CpG island methylator phenotypes and inflammation.

Journal Article Genome Biol · June 1, 2021 BACKGROUND: CIMP (CpG island methylator phenotype) is an epigenetic molecular subtype, observed in multiple malignancies and associated with the epigenetic silencing of tumor suppressors. Currently, for most cancers including gastric cancer (GC), mechanism ... Full text Link to item Cite

Single-cell RNA-seq reveals transcriptomic heterogeneity mediated by host-pathogen dynamics in lymphoblastoid cell lines.

Journal Article Elife · January 27, 2021 Lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) are generated by transforming primary B cells with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and are used extensively as model systems in viral oncology, immunology, and human genetics research. In this study, we characterized single-cell t ... Full text Link to item Cite

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)1.

Journal Article Autophagy · January 2021 In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been ... Full text Link to item Cite

The Role of EBV-Induced Hypermethylation in Gastric Cancer Tumorigenesis.

Journal Article Viruses · October 28, 2020 Epstein-Barr-virus-associated Gastric Cancer (EBVaGC) comprises approximately 10% of global gastric cancers and is known to be the most hypermethylated of all tumor types. EBV infection has been shown to directly induce the hypermethylation of both the hos ... Full text Link to item Cite

Epstein-Barr Virus Genomes Reveal Population Structure and Type 1 Association with Endemic Burkitt Lymphoma.

Journal Article J Virol · August 17, 2020 Endemic Burkitt lymphoma (eBL), the most prevalent pediatric cancer in sub-Saharan Africa, is distinguished by its inclusion of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). In order to better understand the impact of EBV variation in eBL tumorigenesis, we improved viral DNA ... Full text Link to item Cite

Reprogramming of cellular metabolic pathways by human oncogenic viruses.

Journal Article Curr Opin Virol · December 2019 Featured Publication Oncogenic viruses, like all viruses, relies on host metabolism to provide the metabolites and energy needed for virus replication. Many DNA tumor viruses and retroviruses will reprogram metabolism during infection. Additionally, some viral oncogenes may al ... Full text Link to item Cite

The whole-genome landscape of Burkitt lymphoma subtypes.

Journal Article Blood · November 7, 2019 Featured Publication Burkitt lymphoma (BL) is an aggressive, MYC-driven lymphoma comprising 3 distinct clinical subtypes: sporadic BLs that occur worldwide, endemic BLs that occur predominantly in sub-Saharan Africa, and immunodeficiency-associated BLs that occur primarily in ... Full text Link to item Cite

Identification of Host Biomarkers of Epstein-Barr Virus Latency IIb and Latency III.

Journal Article mBio · July 2, 2019 Featured Publication Deciphering the molecular pathogenesis of virally induced cancers is challenging due, in part, to the heterogeneity of both viral gene expression and host gene expression. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a ubiquitous herpesvirus prevalent in B-cell lymphomas o ... Full text Link to item Cite

Molecular features and translational outlook for Epstein-Barr virus-associated gastric cancer.

Journal Article Future Virol · November 2018 Featured Publication Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) was the first discovered human tumor virus and is the etiological agent of B cell lymphomas and also epithelial cancers. Indeed, nearly 10% of gastric cancers worldwide are EBV-positive and display unique molecular, epigenetic, and ... Full text Link to item Cite

Intracellular BH3 Profiling Reveals Shifts in Antiapoptotic Dependency in Human B Cell Maturation and Mitogen-Stimulated Proliferation.

Journal Article J Immunol · March 1, 2018 Featured Publication Apoptosis is critical to B cell maturation, but studies of apoptotic regulation in primary human B cells is lacking. In this study, we sought to better understand the mechanisms of apoptotic regulation in normal and activated B cells. Using intracellular B ... Full text Link to item Cite

c-Myc Represses Transcription of Epstein-Barr Virus Latent Membrane Protein 1 Early after Primary B Cell Infection.

Journal Article J Virol · January 15, 2018 Featured Publication Recent evidence has shown that the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) oncogene LMP1 is not expressed at high levels early after EBV infection of primary B cells, despite its being essential for the long-term outgrowth of immortalized lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) ... Full text Link to item Cite

The Epstein-Barr virus miR-BHRF1 microRNAs regulate viral gene expression in cis.

Journal Article Virology · December 2017 Featured Publication The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) miR-BHRF1 microRNA (miRNA) cluster has been shown to facilitate B-cell transformation and promote the rapid growth of the resultant lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs). However, we find that expression of physiological levels of t ... Full text Link to item Cite

Characterization of the EBV-Induced Persistent DNA Damage Response.

Journal Article Viruses · December 1, 2017 Featured Publication Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is an oncogenic herpesvirus that is ubiquitous in the human population. Early after EBV infection in vitro, primary human B cells undergo a transient period of hyper-proliferation, which results in replicative stress and DNA damage ... Full text Link to item Cite

Limited nucleotide pools restrict Epstein-Barr virus-mediated B-cell immortalization.

Journal Article Oncogenesis · June 12, 2017 Featured Publication Activation of cellular oncogenes as well as infection with tumor viruses can promote aberrant proliferation and activation of the host DNA damage response. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection of primary human B cells induces a transient period of hyper-prol ... Full text Link to item Cite

Epstein-Barr virus ensures B cell survival by uniquely modulating apoptosis at early and late times after infection.

Journal Article Elife · April 20, 2017 Latent Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection is causally linked to several human cancers. EBV expresses viral oncogenes that promote cell growth and inhibit the apoptotic response to uncontrolled proliferation. The EBV oncoprotein LMP1 constitutively activate ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Recent advances in understanding Epstein-Barr virus.

Journal Article F1000Res · 2017 Featured Publication Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a common human herpes virus known to infect the majority of the world population. Infection with EBV is often asymptomatic but can manifest in a range of pathologies from infectious mononucleosis to severe cancers of epithelial ... Full text Link to item Cite

Epstein-Barr Virus Induces Adhesion Receptor CD226 (DNAM-1) Expression during Primary B-Cell Transformation into Lymphoblastoid Cell Lines.

Journal Article mSphere · 2017 Featured Publication Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), an oncogenic herpesvirus, infects and transforms primary B cells into immortal lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs), providing a model for EBV-mediated tumorigenesis. EBV transformation stimulates robust homotypic aggregation, indicat ... Full text Link to item Cite

Metabolic stress is a barrier to Epstein-Barr virus-mediated B-cell immortalization.

Journal Article Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · February 9, 2016 Featured Publication Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is an oncogenic herpesvirus that has been causally linked to the development of B-cell and epithelial malignancies. Early after infection, EBV induces a transient period of hyperproliferation that is suppressed by the activation of ... Full text Link to item Cite

Viruses and the DNA Damage Response: Activation and Antagonism.

Journal Article Annu Rev Virol · November 2014 Featured Publication Viruses must interact with their hosts in order to replicate; these interactions often provoke the evolutionarily conserved response to DNA damage, known as the DNA damage response (DDR). The DDR can be activated by incoming viral DNA, during the integrati ... Full text Link to item Cite

Dynamic Epstein-Barr virus gene expression on the path to B-cell transformation.

Journal Article Adv Virus Res · 2014 Featured Publication Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is an oncogenic human herpesvirus in the γ-herpesvirinae subfamily that contains a 170-180kb double-stranded DNA genome. In vivo, EBV commonly infects B and epithelial cells and persists for the life of the host in a latent state i ... Full text Link to item Cite

Mitogen-induced B-cell proliferation activates Chk2-dependent G1/S cell cycle arrest.

Journal Article PLoS One · 2014 Featured Publication B-cell activation and proliferation can be induced by a variety of extracellular stimuli. The fate of an activated B cell following mitogen stimulation can be dictated by the strength or duration of the signal, the expression of downstream signaling compon ... Full text Link to item Cite

Heavy LIFting: tumor promotion and radioresistance in NPC.

Journal Article J Clin Invest · December 2013 Featured Publication The epithelial-derived nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a rare tumor in most of the world; however, it is common in southern China, northern Africa, and Alaska. NPC is often left undiagnosed and untreated until a late stage of disease. Furthermore, while ... Full text Link to item Cite

Epstein-Barr virus induces global changes in cellular mRNA isoform usage that are important for the maintenance of latency.

Journal Article J Virol · November 2013 Featured Publication Oncogenic viruses promote cell proliferation through the dramatic reorganization of host transcriptomes. In addition to regulating mRNA abundance, changes in mRNA isoform usage can have a profound impact on the protein output of the transcriptome. Using Ep ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

A component of the mir-17-92 polycistronic oncomir promotes oncogene-dependent apoptosis.

Journal Article Elife · October 15, 2013 Featured Publication mir-17-92, a potent polycistronic oncomir, encodes six mature miRNAs with complex modes of interactions. In the Eμ-myc Burkitt's lymphoma model, mir-17-92 exhibits potent oncogenic activity by repressing c-Myc-induced apoptosis, primarily through its miR-1 ... Full text Link to item Cite

Genetic heterogeneity of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

Journal Article Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · January 22, 2013 Featured Publication Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common form of lymphoma in adults. The disease exhibits a striking heterogeneity in gene expression profiles and clinical outcomes, but its genetic causes remain to be fully defined. Through whole genome an ... Full text Link to item Cite

Use of viral systems to study miRNA-mediated regulation of gene expression in human cells.

Journal Article Methods Mol Biol · 2013 Featured Publication MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small ∼22 nt regulatory RNAs that modulate mRNA expression in all multicellular eukaryotic organisms. Interestingly, viruses also encode miRNAs and these viral miRNAs target cellular and viral mRNAs to regulate virus repli ... Full text Link to item Cite

Interplay between DNA tumor viruses and the host DNA damage response.

Journal Article Curr Top Microbiol Immunol · 2013 Featured Publication Viruses encounter many challenges within host cells in order to replicate their nucleic acid. In the case of DNA viruses, one challenge that must be overcome is recognition of viral DNA structures by the host DNA damage response (DDR) machinery. This is ac ... Full text Link to item Cite

Analysis of Epstein-Barr virus-regulated host gene expression changes through primary B-cell outgrowth reveals delayed kinetics of latent membrane protein 1-mediated NF-κB activation.

Journal Article J Virol · October 2012 Featured Publication Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is an oncogenic human herpesvirus that dramatically reorganizes host gene expression to immortalize primary B cells. In this study, we analyzed EBV-regulated host gene expression changes following primary B-cell infection, both dur ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

SplicerEX: a tool for the automated detection and classification of mRNA changes from conventional and splice-sensitive microarray expression data.

Journal Article RNA · August 2012 Featured Publication The key postulate that one gene encodes one protein has been overhauled with the discovery that one gene can generate multiple RNA transcripts through alternative mRNA processing. In this study, we describe SplicerEX, a novel and uniquely motivated algorit ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-induced tumor suppressor microRNA MiR-34a is growth promoting in EBV-infected B cells.

Journal Article J Virol · June 2012 Featured Publication Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection of primary human B cells drives their indefinite proliferation into lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs). B cell immortalization depends on expression of viral latency genes, as well as the regulation of host genes. Given the ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Enhanced outgrowth of EBV-transformed chronic lymphocytic leukemia B cells mediated by coculture with macrophage feeder cells.

Journal Article Blood · February 16, 2012 Featured Publication B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) is characterized by the clonal expansion of CD5-expressing B lymphocytes that produce mAbs often reactive with microbial or autoantigens. Long-term culture of B-CLL clones would permit the collection and characte ... Full text Link to item Cite

The DNA damage response in viral-induced cellular transformation.

Journal Article Br J Cancer · January 31, 2012 Featured Publication The DNA damage response (DDR) has emerged as a critical tumour suppressor pathway responding to cellular DNA replicative stress downstream of aberrant oncogene over-expression. Recent studies have now implicated the DDR as a sensor of oncogenic virus infec ... Full text Link to item Cite

The viral and cellular microRNA targetome in lymphoblastoid cell lines.

Journal Article PLoS Pathog · January 2012 Featured Publication Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a ubiquitous human herpesvirus linked to a number of B cell cancers and lymphoproliferative disorders. During latent infection, EBV expresses 25 viral pre-microRNAs (miRNAs) and induces the expression of specific host miRNAs, su ... Full text Link to item Cite

The role of microRNAs in Epstein-Barr virus latency and lytic reactivation.

Journal Article Microbes Infect · December 2011 Featured Publication Oncogenic viruses reprogram host gene expression driving proliferation, ensuring survival, and evading the immune response. The recent appreciation of microRNAs (miRNAs) as small non-coding RNAs that broadly regulate gene expression has provided new insigh ... Full text Link to item Cite

Structure of herpes simplex virus glycoprotein D bound to the human receptor nectin-1.

Journal Article PLoS Pathog · September 2011 Featured Publication Binding of herpes simplex virus (HSV) glycoprotein D (gD) to a cell surface receptor is required to trigger membrane fusion during entry into host cells. Nectin-1 is a cell adhesion molecule and the main HSV receptor in neurons and epithelial cells. We rep ... Full text Link to item Cite

At a crossroads: human DNA tumor viruses and the host DNA damage response.

Journal Article Future Virol · July 2011 Featured Publication Human DNA tumor viruses induce host cell proliferation in order to establish the necessary cellular milieu to replicate viral DNA. The consequence of such viral-programmed induction of proliferation coupled with the introduction of foreign replicating DNA ... Full text Link to item Cite

An ATM/Chk2-mediated DNA damage-responsive signaling pathway suppresses Epstein-Barr virus transformation of primary human B cells.

Journal Article Cell Host Microbe · December 16, 2010 Featured Publication Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), an oncogenic herpesvirus that causes human malignancies, infects and immortalizes primary human B cells in vitro into indefinitely proliferating lymphoblastoid cell lines, which represent a model for EBV-induced tumorigenesis. The ... Full text Link to item Cite

Deep sequencing of the small RNA transcriptome of normal and malignant human B cells identifies hundreds of novel microRNAs.

Journal Article Blood · December 2, 2010 A role for microRNA (miRNA) has been recognized in nearly every biologic system examined thus far. A complete delineation of their role must be preceded by the identification of all miRNAs present in any system. We elucidated the complete small RNA transcr ... Full text Link to item Cite

Virally induced cellular microRNA miR-155 plays a key role in B-cell immortalization by Epstein-Barr virus.

Journal Article J Virol · November 2010 Featured Publication Infection of resting primary human B cells by Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) results in their transformation into indefinitely proliferating lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs). LCL formation serves as a model for lymphomagenesis, and LCLs are phenotypically simila ... Full text Link to item Cite

Affinity maturation and characterization of a human monoclonal antibody against HIV-1 gp41

Journal Article Mabs · September 1, 2009 The human D5 monoclonal antibody binds to the highly conserved hydrophobic pocket on the N-terminal heptad repeat (NHR) trimer of HIV-1 gp41 and exhibits modest yet relatively broad neutralization activity. Both binding and neutralization depend on residue ... Cite

MDM2-dependent inhibition of p53 is required for Epstein-Barr virus B-cell growth transformation and infected-cell survival.

Journal Article J Virol · March 2009 Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) growth transformation of primary B lymphocytes into indefinitely proliferating lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) depends on the concerted activities of a subset of viral proteins expressed during latency. EBV drives quiescent B cell ... Full text Link to item Cite

Affinity maturation and characterization of a human monoclonal antibody against HIV-1 gp41.

Journal Article MAbs · 2009 The human D5 monoclonal antibody binds to the highly conserved hydrophobic pocket on the N-terminal heptad repeat (NHR) trimer of HIV-1 gp41 and exhibits modest yet relatively broad neutralization activity. Both binding and neutralization depend on residue ... Full text Link to item Cite

Structural basis for HIV-1 neutralization by a gp41 fusion intermediate-directed antibody.

Journal Article Nat Struct Mol Biol · August 2006 Featured Publication Elicitation of potent and broadly neutralizing antibodies is an important goal in designing an effective human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) vaccine. The HIV-1 gp41 inner-core trimer represents a functionally and structurally conserved target for therap ... Full text Link to item Cite

Proteins of purified Epstein-Barr virus.

Journal Article Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · November 16, 2004 Featured Publication Mature Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) was purified from the culture medium of infected lymphocytes made functionally conditional for Zta activation of lytic replication by an in-frame fusion with a mutant estrogen receptor. Proteins in purified virus preparation ... Full text Link to item Cite

Latent infection membrane protein transmembrane FWLY is critical for intermolecular interaction, raft localization, and signaling.

Journal Article Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · January 6, 2004 Featured Publication Relatively little is known about the biochemical mechanisms through which the Epstein-Barr virus latent infection integral membrane protein 1 (LMP1) transmembrane domains cause constitutive LMP1 aggregation and continuous cytoplasmic C terminus-mediated si ... Full text Link to item Cite

Epstein-Barr virus latent infection membrane protein 1 TRAF-binding site induces NIK/IKK alpha-dependent noncanonical NF-kappaB activation.

Journal Article Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · January 6, 2004 Featured Publication Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) latent infection membrane protein 1 (LMP1)-induced NF-kappaB activation is important for infected cell survival. LMP1 activates NF-kappaB, in part, by engaging tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor-associated factors (TRAFs), which ... Full text Link to item Cite

Epstein-Barr virus latent membrane protein 1 activation of NF-kappaB through IRAK1 and TRAF6.

Journal Article Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · December 23, 2003 Featured Publication Epstein-Barr virus latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1) activation of NF-kappaB is critical for Epstein-Barr virus-infected B lymphocyte survival. LMP1 activates the IkappaB kinase complex and NF-kappaB through two cytoplasmic signaling domains that engage tum ... Full text Link to item Cite

Effects of the NIK aly mutation on NF-kappaB activation by the Epstein-Barr virus latent infection membrane protein, lymphotoxin beta receptor, and CD40.

Journal Article J Biol Chem · May 4, 2001 Homozygosity for the aly point mutation in NF-kappaB-inducing kinase (NIK) results in alymphoplasia in mice, a phenotype similar to that of homozygosity for deletion of the lymphotoxin beta receptor (LTbetaR). We now find that NF-kappaB activation by Epste ... Full text Link to item Cite

Glycoprotein B of human herpesvirus 8 is a component of the virion in a cleaved form composed of amino- and carboxyl-terminal fragments.

Journal Article Virology · March 30, 2000 Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) or Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is the only known human member of the Rhadinovirus genus of the gammaherpesvirus subfamily. Antibodies against peptides representing portions of the amino- and carboxyl-termini o ... Full text Link to item Cite