Location:
Level 6, Seminar Room Wallace Wurth Building UNSW Australia Sydney NSW 2052
Open to
All
The Kirby Institute is pleased to present:
Professor Riccardo Dolcetti -The University of Queensland Diammantina Institute
"A lymphomagenic role for HIV beyond immune suppression?"
Abstract:
Malignant lymphoma remains a major complication of HIV infection, despite infection control achieved by combination antiretroviral therapy, suggesting that factors other than HIV-related immune suppression and inflammation promote lymphomagenesis. The seminar will present recent data showing that lymphoid tissues of HIV+ patients with lymphoma contain variants of the p17 HIV matrix protein, which are able to promote B-cell growth and clonogenicity, suggesting that HIV may contribute to lymphomagenesis directly. In addition to advancing our understanding of the role of HIV in promoting lymphomagenesis, these results may provide a basis for development of strategies to identify HIV+ individuals at risk of developing lymphoma, and have the potential to identify new therapeutic targets for the treatment of HIV-related lymphoma.
Bio:
Prof. Riccardo Dolcetti is a senior Oncologist and Clinical Immunologist, previous head of the Cancer Bio-Immunotherapy Unit at the Centro Riferimento Oncologico – National Cancer Institute, Aviano, Italy, and since november 2015 has moved to The University of Queensland Diamantina Institute, Brisbane, as Research Chair in Cancer Medicine. He has been the President of the Italian Society for Cancer Research (2012-13). His main research and clinical focus are in the fields of cancer immunotherapy/immunomonitoring and infection-driven tumors, particularly those associated with EBV and HIV.