Conference Support for International Congress on Oncogenic Herpesviruses

描述(申请人提供)：本会议拨款申请申请资助首届国际致癌疱疹病毒及相关疾病大会。这次会议是独特和创新的，因为它将作为关于卡波西肉瘤相关疱疹病毒(KSHV)和相关药物的国际研讨会(第15届年会)和国际爱泼斯坦-巴尔病毒和相关疾病研讨会(第15届双年度会议)的第一次合并会议。这笔资金将用于减少美国病毒肿瘤学博士后和博士后学员的旅行和注册费用。会议的目标与NIH、NCI、NIAID和NIDCR的使命声明是一致的，即推进和促进与人类癌症和其他罕见疾病相关的慢性感染的研究步伐，特别是在艾滋病毒/艾滋病的背景下。会议将由宾夕法尼亚大学医学院艾布拉姆森癌症中心、宾夕法尼亚大学牙科学院和维斯塔尔研究所癌症中心联合主办。它将于2012年8月1日至5日在费城市中心的喜来登市中心酒店举行。本次会议的所有剩余费用将来自与会者支付的注册费以及主办机构、基金会和制药和生物技术公司的捐款。会议的主要焦点是致癌疱疹病毒和相关人类疾病的生物学，特别关注病毒发病机制、病毒潜伏期和重新激活、病毒基因表达和复制、宿主对感染的反应、流行病学、疫苗开发和治疗干预。除了EBV和KSHV，还将介绍与疱疹病毒塞米里(HVS)、小鼠疱疹病毒-68(MHV-68)、恒河猴流感病毒(RRV)和恒河猴淋巴病毒(RhLCV)相关的研究。此外，该方案还包括一个关于该领域需要科学界关注的新发展的公开论坛讨论。这些会议所涵盖的主题由该领域的一名志愿者股东主持，多年来一直在发展，涵盖的问题包括：病毒检测和诊断交叉验证的必要性， 病毒污染对血库安全的影响，以及有效疫苗和抗病毒疗法的开发。为了进一步鼓励提出新的数据，会议为一些选定的摘要提供了一个较晚的分组会议的机会，这些摘要可以在接近会议日期的最后期限提交。 与公共卫生相关：人类病毒导致的癌症占所有人类癌症的17%。据估计，每年约有40万新的癌症病例(估计。2011年)可归因于人类伽马疱疹病毒的慢性感染。EBV和KSHV都感染了很大比例的成年人，并在各种恶性肿瘤中起着复杂的辅助因素作用，包括KSHV的Kaposi肉瘤、胸腔积液淋巴瘤和多中心Castleman病，EBV的Burkitt淋巴瘤、鼻咽癌、胃癌、霍奇金和非霍奇金淋巴瘤，以及EBV的NK/T细胞淋巴瘤。其中许多癌症在艾滋病毒-艾滋病和其他形式的免疫抑制中升高，包括器官移植和自身免疫性疾病的治疗。许多与病毒相关的恶性肿瘤是发展中国家和发达国家的地方性地方病，可能具有复杂的遗传易感性或高风险的环境辅助因素。已经探索了几种治疗方法，包括疫苗接种和小分子抗病毒治疗，但到目前为止，还没有一种标准的临床方法能够成功地实现对这些病毒相关恶性肿瘤和相关疾病的长期保护或治疗。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This conference grant application requests funds to support the first International Congress on Oncogenic Herpesvirus and Associated Disease. This meeting is unique and innovative in that it will serve as the first combined meeting of the International Workshop on Kaposi's Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus (KSHV) and Related Agents (15th Annual Meeting) and the International Symposium on Epstein-Barr Virus and Associated Diseases (15th Biennial Meeting). The funds will be used to reduce the travel and registration costs to US pre- and post-doctoral trainees in viral oncology. The goals of the meeting are consistent with the mission statements of the NIH, NCI, NIAID, and NIDCR, namely, to advance and promote the pace of research on chronic infections associated with human cancer and other rare diseases, especially in the setting of HIV- AIDS. The Conference will be co-hosted by the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine Abramson Cancer Center, the University of Pennsylvania School of Dentistry, and the Wistar Institute Cancer Center. It will take place August 1-5th 2012 in the Sheraton Downtown Hotel located in center city Philadelphia. All remaining costs for this conference will be raised from registration fees paid by conferees and contributions from host institutions, foundations, and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. The main focus of the meeting is on the biology of oncogenic herpesviruses and associated human diseases, with specific focus on viral pathogenesis, viral latency and reactivation, viral gene expression and replication, host responses to infection, epidemiology, vaccine development, and therapeutic intervention. In addition to EBV and KSHV, studies related to herpesvirus saimiri (HVS), murine herpesvirus-68 (MHV-68), rhesus rhadinovirus (RRV), and rhesus lymphocryptovirus (rhLCV) will be presented. In addition, the program contains an open forum discussion on novel developments in the field that need attention by the scientific community. Subjects covered by these sessions, which are moderated by a volunteer stake holder in the field have been evolved over the years and have covered issues ranging from: the need for cross-validation for viral detection and diagnostics, the risk of virus contamination for blood bank safety, and the development of effective vaccines and anti-viral therapies. To further encourage the presentation of novel data, the conference provides the opportunity for a late breaker session for a few chosen abstracts that can be submitted at a deadline close to the conference date. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Human viruses are responsible for >17% of all human cancers. It is estimated that ~400,000 new cancer cases per year (est. for 2011) can be attributed to chronic infection of a human gammaherpesvirus. Both EBV and KSHV infect a large percentage of the adult human population, and have complex cofactor roles in a variety of malignancies, including Kaposi's Sarcroma, pleural effusion lymphoma, and Multicentric Castleman's disease for KSHV, and Burkitt's lymphomas, nasopharyngeal carcinomas, gastric carcinomas, Hodgkin's and Non-Hodgkin's lymphomas, and NK/T cell lymphomas for EBV. Many of these cancers are elevated in HIV- AIDS and other forms of immunosuppression, including treatments for organ transplant and autoimmune disease. Many of the viral-associated malignancies are endemic to geographical locations throughout the developing and developed world, and may have complex genetic predispositions or high-risk environmental cofactors. Several therapeutic approaches have been explored, including vaccination and small molecule anti- viral therapies, but to date, no standard clinical approach has succeeded in achieving long-term protection or treatment of these viral associated malignancies and related diseases.