# Assessing the EBV circular RNAome

> **NIH NIH R21** · TULANE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA · 2020 · $132,131

## Abstract

Summary
EBV is a human tumor virus that is an etiological agent in Hodgkin's lymphoma, non-Hodgkin's lymphomas,
stomach cancer and nasopharygeal carcinoma, and it is associated with an increased incidence of lymphomas
in the HIV-infected patient context. EBV contributes to oncogenic progression through the expression of one or
more viral genes that activate oncogenic pathways along the progression of stages that lead to cancer. A
unique aspect of herpesviruses is their utilization of “latency” gene expression programs where no virus
replication occurs and only a small subset of viral genes is expressed that remodels the host cell environment
to facilitate viral maintenance and persistence. With some of the pathways altered by latency genes
overlapping with pathway alterations required for oncogenesis, EBV latency genes are key contributors to the
tumor phenotype.
Because non-coding RNAs do not elicit adaptive immune responses, the utilization of viral non-coding RNAs in
latency settings is a key herpesviral strategy to sustain viral persistence without promoting immune clearance.
In cell culture models, we have discovered for the first time, that EBV expresses a class of largely non-coding
RNAs referred to as circular RNAs (circRNAs) in both its latency and reactivation phases. The finding of a new
repertoire of EBV transcripts is important because it stands to 1) add a previously unknown dimension to how
EBV establishes successful infection and disease, 2) potentially provide novel and important mechanistic
insights into EBV associated oncogenesis, and 3) provide new candidate therapeutic targets as well as liquid
biopsy-based sentinel markers of disease. The goal of this R21 exploratory application is to perform vital
validation experiments to determine whether these viral circRNAs are expressed in vivo in the natural tumor
setting (aim 1) and to assess the possible relevance of this new class of viral RNAs in EBV infection and
pathology through an initial investigation into the function of one of these (aim 2). Together, these experiments
will provide key initial foundational work that will set the stage for initiating and prioritizing future investigations
into the functions and mechanisms of action of this class of viral transcripts.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9870907
- **Project number:** 5R21CA236549-02
- **Recipient organization:** TULANE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
- **Principal Investigator:** ERIK K FLEMINGTON
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $132,131
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-04-01 → 2021-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9870907

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9870907, Assessing the EBV circular RNAome (5R21CA236549-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9870907. Licensed CC0.

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