UWCCC Human Cancer Virology

The VR Program is advancing understanding, prevention, and treatment of virus-linked cancers and other cancers through fundamental and translational studies that encompass five of the seven well-established human tumor viruses. Program members are defining the mechanisms by which human tumor viruses replicate, maintain chronic infection, and promote tumor induction and maintenance; determining the progressive, genome-wide molecular changes in the development of virus-associated tumors; identifying viral and cellular biomarkers for improved tumor diagnosis, prognosis and treatment selection; and using their results to develop new approaches to prevent and treat tumor virus infection and oncogenesis.  To achieve their goals, Program members collaborate extensively intra- and inter-programmatically, and integrate novel, synergistic approaches using cell culture, mouse models based on transgenes and patient explants, and large collections of relevant human tumor samples.