IRTG 1054 Lecture - Thomas Sommermann
Klaus Rajewsky Lab, Max-Delbrück-Centrum für Molekulare Medizin, Berlin
28.06.2019 at 09:15
Title: How EBV controls B cell proliferation and differentiation during transformation
Epstein Barr virus (EBV) is a B lymphotropic gamma herpesvirus that is endemic in more than 90% of the human adult population. In vitro, EBV infection is sufficient to transform B cells into immortal Lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCL). In healthy individuals, such EBV-driven B cells are controlled by the immune system, allowing the virus to persist only in a small fraction of memory B cells with little or no viral protein expression. Immunocompromised patients are unable to control EBV-driven B cells and frequently suffer from EBV+ lymphomas and proliferative diseases. Like in vitro generated LCLs, most EBV+ lymphomas of immunocompromised patients express a viral transcription program called latency III, encoding 3 viral Latent membrane proteins (LMP) and 6 Epstein Barr Nuclear Antigens (EBNAs). Activity of LMPs and EBNAs during B cell transformation in vitro has been extensively studied, but their role on B cell physiology and lymphomagenesis in vivo is poorly understood. We have established mouse models of EBV using conditional gene targeting to express EBV genes LMP1, LMP2A and EBNA3A alone or in combination in mouse B cells. We now use these models to study the impact of LMP and EBNA proteins on immunogenicity, proliferation, differentiation and transformation of B cells in vivo.
Host: Rebecca Metzger (PhD student in Anne Krug's lab)
Venue:
BioMedical Center (BMC), Room N 02.017,
Großhaderner Str. 9, Planegg-Martinsried
If you wish to talk to the speaker, please contact Katharina Frank