Cancer studies
Work under this theme has close links to Virology through its focus on the identification and characterisation of viruses as agents of cancer, and extends to basic aspects of tumour biology and pathogenesis. The Leukaemia Research Fund/Cancer Research UK Molecular Oncology Laboratory centres on animal models of cancer, using transgenic and knockout models to understand cancer gene functions in vivo. Renewal of the Laboratory’s unique joint programme grant from the major UK cancer charities in 2006 endorsed an increasing emphasis on the Runx transcription factors that play important roles as oncogenes and tumour suppressors in a lineage and context-specific manner, and are significant players in human leukaemia as well as epithelial cancers. The LRF Virus Centre has major interests in the pathogenesis of Hodgkin’s disease which is supported by an LRF programme grant, and in exploring the role of viral agents, including herpesviruses, in leukaemia. A third major strength is the Papillomavirus Group that constitutes the largest group of independent investigators in the UK focusing on these viruses. This group investigates control of the viral life cycle, interaction of viral proteins with host factors regulating viral transcription and replication and has a comparative aspect focusing on understanding of the BPV1 induced equine sarcoid.
