Keck School of Medicine of USC researchers have identified a human protein that could prevent cancer by restricting a type of herpes virus from replicating.
The scientists examined the human herpes virus 8, otherwise known as Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus. Kaposi sarcoma is a cancer that causes lesions in soft tissue, including skin, the oral cavity, lymph nodes and internal organs.
Shou-Jiang Gao, senior author of the study, has been studying this eighth type of herpes viruses for almost 25 years. The current study, published in Nature Microbiology on Nov. 6, is the first to map healthy cells and those infected by a large DNA virus, Gao said.