Imperial College London

ProfessorPaulFarrell

Faculty of MedicineDepartment of Infectious Disease

Professor of Tumour Virology
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 2005p.farrell Website

 
 
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Location

 

Section of VirologyNorfolk PlaceSt Mary's Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Lippert:2021:10.1038/s41467-020-20819-4,
author = {Lippert, T and Marzec, P and Idilli, A and Sarek, G and Bower, M and Farrell, P and Ojala, PM and Feldhahn, N and Boulton, SJ},
doi = {10.1038/s41467-020-20819-4},
journal = {Nature Communications},
title = {Oncogenic herpesvirus KSHV triggers hallmarks of alternative lengthening of telomeres},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-20819-4},
volume = {12},
year = {2021}
}

RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB - To achieve replicative immortality, cancer cells must activate telomere maintenance mechanisms to prevent telomere shortening. ~85% of cancers circumvent telomeric attrition by re-expressing telomerase, while the remaining ~15% of cancers induce alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT), which relies on break-induced replication (BIR) and telomere recombination. Although ALT tumours were first reported over 20 years ago, the mechanism of ALT induction remains unclear and no study to date has described a cell-based model that permits the induction of ALT. Here, we demonstrate that infection with Kaposi’s sarcoma herpesvirus (KSHV) induces sustained acquisition of ALT-like features in previously non-ALT cell lines. KSHV-infected cells acquire hallmarks of ALT activity that are also observed in KSHV-associated tumour biopsies. Down-regulating BIR impairs KSHV latency, suggesting that KSHV co-opts ALT for viral functionality. This study uncovers KSHV infection as a means to study telomere maintenance by ALT and reveals features of ALT in KSHV-associated tumours.
AU - Lippert,T
AU - Marzec,P
AU - Idilli,A
AU - Sarek,G
AU - Bower,M
AU - Farrell,P
AU - Ojala,PM
AU - Feldhahn,N
AU - Boulton,SJ
DO - 10.1038/s41467-020-20819-4
PY - 2021///
SN - 2041-1723
TI - Oncogenic herpesvirus KSHV triggers hallmarks of alternative lengthening of telomeres
T2 - Nature Communications
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-20819-4
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/85617
VL - 12
ER -