News Release

By J.D. HERMANN
UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center

CHAPEL HILL -- The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center recently honored three graduate students for demonstrated excellence in research.

Ru Cao, Scott DeWire and Eric Meissner received Lineberger Fellow Awards for their research that could lead to new developments in the study of cancer.

UNC Lineberger’s Board of Visitors honors graduate students annually with the highly competitive award, consisting of a $3,000 supplementary stipend. The board began the program in 1987 to encourage graduate students to pursue cancer research.

Cao is studying the protein EZH2, which exists at high levels in cancer cells and plays an active role in the spread of cancer through a genetic modification.

One of Cao’s goals is to test for a molecule that can inhibit the activity of the protein and, therefore, impede the cancer progression. She hopes the study may provide a tool for developing more efficient clinical treatment for cancer. Cao studies under the direction of UNC Lineberger faculty member Dr. Yi Zhang, associate professor of biochemistry and biophysics in UNC’s School of Medicine.

DeWire’s focus is on Kaposi’s sarcoma, a common form of cancer among people with AIDS. Kaposi’s sarcoma is difficult to research because the herpesvirus that causes it generally will not multiply outside its host. DeWire has helped develop a new research model based on a monkey virus closely related to the herpesvirus found in humans and that can grow outside its host in the laboratory.

Studying under UNC Lineberger faculty member Dr. Blossom Damania, assistant professor of microbiology and immunology in UNC’s School of Medicine, DeWire hopes to discern what viral gene causes the cancer, possibly leading to development of more effective therapy.

Meissner also concentrates on AIDS-related research and is studying how HIV may weaken the immune system by killing developing T-cells in the thymus. These thymocytes develop into different kinds of T-cells essential in fighting off infections and cancer. When HIV-infected patients develop AIDS, they do not have enough of these T-cells to maintain a functional immune system.

Meissner is trying to determine if all of the thymocytes that die are infected by HIV or if infected cells cause other surrounding, uninfected thymocytes to die because of the disturbance in their environment. Meissner studies under the direction of UNC Lineberger faculty member Dr. Lishan Su, associate professor of microbiology and immunology at UNC. 

Financial support was provided by the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation; Rochelle Grubb of Lexington and Alice L. Harney of Charlotte, both of whom are on the UNC Lineberger Board of Visitors; and Elizabeth Lineberger Lyon of Portland, Ore.

UNC Lineberger, part of UNC’s School of Medicine, is one of 38 comprehensive cancer centers designated by the National Cancer Institute.

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UNC Lineberger contact: Dianne Shaw, (919) 966-5905

News Services contact: Deb Saine, (919) 962-8415 or deborah_saine@unc.edu