ProfessorPaivi Ojala
Visiting Professor
Department of Infectious Disease - Faculty of Medicine
Orcid identifier0000-0001-9065-1832 (opens in a new tab)
- Visiting ProfessorDepartment of Infectious Disease - Faculty of Medicine
- 020 7594 3971 (Work)
- 443, Medical School, St Mary's Campus, United Kingdom
RESEARCH
Research Focus
Research on human tumor viruses has been central to development of modern cancer biology and given profound insights into cancers not only associated with infection but also cancer in general. Kaposi's sarcoma herpesvirus (KSHV), an oncogenic gamma-2 herpesvirus, is genetically equipped to manipulate and deregulate several cellular signaling pathways. Especially AIDS-associated Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) is strongly linked to immunosuppression and remains a significant health problem worldwide due to persisting HIV epidemic in Africa, and an increase in cases of recurrence even in the HAART-treated AIDS patients. KS is an angiogenic, histologically complex tumor, which consists of multifocal lesions of proliferating, latently KSHV-infected cells that are characterized by spindle-like morphology, and express markers of multiple cell types such as endothelial, smooth muscle cells, fibroblasts etc. KSHV is suggested to originate from endothelial cells (ECs) and it infects various types of ECs in culture; numerous studies describing consequences of KSHV infection of primary or immortalized vascular and lymphatic ECs support them as a valuable model to understand KSHV biology and pathogenesis.
For more information please visit my group's page at http://www1.imperial.ac.uk/departmentofmedicine/divisions/infectiousdiseases/viro/virushost/
Research on human tumor viruses has been central to development of modern cancer biology and given profound insights into cancers not only associated with infection but also cancer in general. Kaposi's sarcoma herpesvirus (KSHV), an oncogenic gamma-2 herpesvirus, is genetically equipped to manipulate and deregulate several cellular signaling pathways. Especially AIDS-associated Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) is strongly linked to immunosuppression and remains a significant health problem worldwide due to persisting HIV epidemic in Africa, and an increase in cases of recurrence even in the HAART-treated AIDS patients. KS is an angiogenic, histologically complex tumor, which consists of multifocal lesions of proliferating, latently KSHV-infected cells that are characterized by spindle-like morphology, and express markers of multiple cell types such as endothelial, smooth muscle cells, fibroblasts etc. KSHV is suggested to originate from endothelial cells (ECs) and it infects various types of ECs in culture; numerous studies describing consequences of KSHV infection of primary or immortalized vascular and lymphatic ECs support them as a valuable model to understand KSHV biology and pathogenesis.
For more information please visit my group's page at http://www1.imperial.ac.uk/departmentofmedicine/divisions/infectiousdiseases/viro/virushost/