COLUMBUS, Ohio – A team of researchers from Ohio State University's Comprehensive Cancer Center (OSUCCC) and the University's College of Veterinary Medicine have received a $10.9 million, five-year grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to further their studies of retrovirus-associated cancer.
Principal investigator Michael Lairmore, DVM, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Veterinary Biosciences, associate director for basic research at the OSUCCC, and a member of the OSUCCC's Viral Oncogenesis Program, leads the team.
The new grant follows a previous five-year, $8.9 million NCI grant received in 2003 for studies investigating how some retroviruses cause white blood cells, called lymphocytes, to proliferate, leading to cancer. Retroviruses include the human T-lymphotropic virus type I and II (HTLV-1 and HTLV-2), which have been linked to adult T-cell leukemia and lymphoma, and the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the cause of AIDS.
The study comprises five interactive projects with interrelated goals to define critical biological events that control the alteration of lymphocytes. "These findings will help us further discover therapeutic targets against retroviral-induced lymphoma and its lethal side effects syndromes, such as hypercalcemia," Lairmore says.