The University of Birmingham is one of the leading research-based universities in the United Kingdom. The breadth of research expertise is a distinctive characteristic of the University; out of the 49 research areas it submitted at the 2001 UK Research Assessment Exercise, 32 achieved the highest possible ratings of 5 or 5*. Every year, the University of Birmingham successfully competes for over £80 million (115 million euros) of external funding for research, from UK research councils and other funding bodies such as the European Commission. Including INCA, the University participated in over 100 Sixth Framework Programme projects. The Institute of Cancer Studies (ICS) has an international reputation in both basic (e.g. tumour virology and immunology, the identification and function of cancer susceptibility genes, cancer cell adhesion and motility) and translational (e.g. gene and immunotherapy, cancer clinical trials) cancer research. It is one of Cancer Research UK’s major research laboratories and the only one to be fully integrated into the academic structure of a University. The Institute has over 250 staff with a diverse range of interest and expertise including basic cell biology, genetics, virology, immunology, bioinformatics, structural biology, oncology, radiotherapy and statistics. The Institute receives over £10 million per year for research from a range of funding agencies including the Medical Research Council, Cancer Research UK, Leukaemia Research Fund and the Wellcome Trust.

We are interested in the role of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection in the pathogenesis of Hodgkin’s lymphoma (HL) and nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Under INCA, we aim to: Develop EBV infection systems to more closely examine the interaction of EBV with HL cells and NPC cells. Study the function of individual EBV latent genes. Examine the pattern of cellular gene expression in biopsies of HL and NPC . Generate reagents that target the down-regulation of EBV latent genes for both functional and therapeutic studies.

Stewart, S., Dawson, C.W., Takada, K., Curnow, J., Moody, C.A., Sixbey, J.W. and Young, L.S. (2004) Epstein-Barr virus encoded LMP2A regulates viral and cellular gene expression via modulation of the NF-KB transcription factor pathway. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 101, 15730-15735. Young, L.S. and Rickinson, A.B. (2004) Epstein-Barr virus: 40 years on. Nat. Revs. Cancer 4, 757-768. Dutton, A., Reynolds, G.M., Dawson, C.W., Young, L.S, and Murray, P.G. (2005) Constitutive activation of phosphatidly-inositide 3 kinase contributes to the survival of Hodgkin’s lymphoma cells through a mechanism involving Akt and mTOR. J. Pathol. 205, 498-506. Allen, M., Young, L.S. and Dawson, C.W. (2005) The Epstein-Barr virus encoded LMP2A and LMP2B proteins promote epithelial cell spreading and motility. J. Virol. 79, 1789-1802. Moody, C.A., Scott, R.S., Amirghahari, N., Nathan, C.A., Young, L.S., Dawson, C.W. and Sixbey, J.W. (2005) Modulation of the cell growth regulator mTOR by Epstein-Barr virus-encoded LMP2A. J. Virol. 79, 5499-5506. Baumforth, K.R.N., Flavell, J.R., Reynolds, G.M., Davies, G., Pettitt, T.R., Wei, W-B., Morgan, S., Stankovic, T., Kishi, Y., Arai, H., Nowakova, M., Pratt, G., Aoki, J., Wakelam, M.J.O., Young, L.S. and Murray, P.G. (2005) Induction of autotaxin by the Epstein-Barr virus promotes the growth and survival of Hodgkin’s lymphoma cells. Blood 106, 2138-2146. Baxendale, A.J., Dawson, C.W., Stewart, S.E., Mudaliar, V., Reynolds, G., Gordon, J., Murray, P.G., Young, L.S. and Eliopoulos, A.G. (2005) Constitutive activation of the CD40 pathway promotes cell transformation and neoplastic growth. Oncogene 24, 7913-7923. Felton-Edkins, A., Kondrashov, A., Karali, D., Fairley, J.A., Dawson, C.W., Arrand, J.R., Young, L.S. and White, R.J. (2006) Epstein-Barr virus induced cellular transcription factors to stimulate expression of EBER genes by RNA polymerase III. J. Biol. Chem. 281, 33871-33880. Dutton, A., Woodman, C.B.J., Chukwuma, M.B., Last, J.I.K., Wei, W., Vockerodt, M., Baumforth, K.R.N., Flavell, J.R., Rowe, M., Taylor, A.M.R., Young, L.S. and Murray, P.G. (2007) BMI-1 is induced by the Epstein-Barr virus oncogene LMP1, and regulates the expression of viral target genes in Hodgkin’s lymphoma cells. Blood 109, 2597-2603. Wood, V.H., O’Neil, J.D., Wei, W., Stewart, S.E., Dawson, C.W. and Young, L.S. (2007) Epstein-Barr virus-encoded EBNA1 regulates cellular gene transcription and modulates STAT1 and TGFbeta signalling pathways. Oncogene 26, 4135-4147.