Micah Alan Luftig

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

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

To be or not IIb: a multi-step process for Epstein-Barr virus latency establishment and consequences for B cell tumorigenesis.

Journal article PLoS Pathog · March 2015 Featured Publication 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

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

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