Rui Guo

Epstein Barr virus (EBV) is highly prevalent, infecting over 95% of adults worldwide. It is the causative agent of mononucleosis and has strong associations with multiple sclerosis and approximately 200,000 cancer cases annually. EBV+ Burkitt lymphoma (BL) is the leading childhood cancer in Africa, and EBV contributes to HIV-associated BL, Hodgkin lymphoma, post-transplant lymphomas, nasopharyngeal and gastric carcinoma.
The lack of specificity and side effects associated with current EBV+ cancer therapies underscore the necessity of our long-term research, which aims to pave the way for the development of novel treatments targeting EBV-driven metabolic vulnerabilities, enhancing effectiveness, and reducing adverse effects.
To achieve this, our group employs a diverse range of cutting-edge techniques encompassing molecular biology, transcriptomics, metabolomics, epigenetics, and genome-wide CRISPR/Cas9 screening. By integrating these approaches, we are currently addressing three critical questions:
1. How EBV subverts methyl group metabolic pathways, leading to increased genome hypermethylation, which promotes viral latency and silences tumor suppressors (Check out our recent publication-PMID: 36070681);
2. How EBV generates specialized mitochondria that drive bioenergetic and biosynthetic pathways to fuel the building blocks for cell growth transformation;
3. How EBV orchestrates triglyceride storage and hydrolysis to facilitate B- and epithelial cell transformation.