UMD Researchers Make Groundbreaking Discovery

Researchers at the University of Maryland recently completed groundbreaking research that establishes a link between bacterial infections and cancers. The study was lead by Robert Gallo, MD, a biomedical researcher at the University of Maryland, and Davide Zella, PhD, an assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology. Dr. Gallo and Dr. Zella also collaborated with Hervé Tettelin, PhD, an associate professor of microbiology and immunology.

The researchers conducted their studies in the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s Institute of Human Virology (IHV), an institute co-founded and directed by Dr. Gallo. Formed in 1996 as a partnership between the state of Maryland, the city of Baltimore, the University System of Maryland and the University of Maryland Medical System, IHV is home to some of the most  world-renowned experts in virology. The IHV combines the disciplines of basic research, epidemiology and clinical research in a concerted effort to discover diagnostics and therapeutics for a wide variety of chronic and deadly viral and immune disorders — most notably, HIV.

“Mycoplasmas are a family of bacteria that are associated with cancers, especially in people with HIV. Our work provides an explanation for how a bacterial infection can trigger a series of events that lead to cancer,” Dr. Gallo said. “Of particular importance, the infection did not need to persist and the protein did not need to be continuously present in all cancer cells. The study also provides a mechanism for how some bacterial infections can interfere with specific cancer drugs.”

This groundbreaking research has enormous implications on cancer research and how scientists will tackle the disease in the future. “This hit-and-run, or hide, mechanism mediated by a protein common to many cancer-associated bacteria changes how we need to think about infection and at least some cancers. Furthermore, this provides a basis for understanding how infection can influence the effectiveness of some cancer treatments.”

The researchers discovered that DnaK, a protein of the bacterium mycoplasma, interferes with the mycoplasma-infected cell’s ability to respond to and repair DNA damage, a known origin of cancer. Little or no mycoplasma DnaK DNA sequences were associated with a fully developed cancerous tumor. This discovery, which suggested at a hit-and-run or hide mechanism of transformation, indicates the damage is done early but the protein may not be needed once the cancer cells are formed.

This UMD research study, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is clinically relevant because it sheds light on the origin of cancers. The study also shows that DnaK of some bacteria could counteract the efficacy of compounds such as 5-FU or Nutlin used in the treatment of some cancers. In the future, the findings would need to be verified in broader human studies. However, the study could lead to a greater understanding of the  mechanisms responsible for reduced activities and levels of critical cellular pathways.
Article by MoCo Student staff writer Dhruv Pai of Montgomery Blair High School