Study: AIDS-related virus causes cancer

PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- U.S. medical scientists have discovered how Kaposi's Sarcoma-associated Herpes Virus, or KSHV, subverts normal cells into causing cancer.

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine researchers determined a KSHV protein called latency-associated nuclear antigen, or LANA, helps the virus hide from the immune system in infected cells. When LANA takes the place of other proteins that control cell growth, it can cause uncontrolled cell replication.

"This is the first report of LANA interfering with the crucial cellular protein called intracellular Notch," noted lead author Professor Erle Robertson, who said Notch is a signaling molecule that triggers cell development and maintains the stability of cells in many organs, such as the brain, heart, blood, and muscle.

The findings appeared in a the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.