The Canadian Institutes of Health Research has awarded Louis Flamand, PhD, and his Research Center at Laval University a five-year grant to continue his work on inherited chromosomally integrated HHV-6. The grant was based in part on work done with the aid the HHV-6 Foundation’s Dharam Ablashi Pilot Grant Fund.
Congratulations to Louis and his team including Annie Gravel, Vanessa Collin and Isabelle Dubuc. A description of his planned objectives is copied below.
Flamand: Funded Grant Objectives
First, to determine the impact of HHV-6 integration on cellular homeostasis. To study this, iPSC lines from primary cells of iciHHV-6+subjects and controls, generated with the aid of a grant from the HHV-6 Foundation, will be utilized. These cells will be used to study the impact of integration on the proliferation and cellular differentiation.
Second, we will decipher the mechanisms leading to HHV-6 integration. The current models suggest that homologous recombination (HR) between host and viral telomeres promote HHV-6 integration. This will be examined in detail.
Third, we will define conditions and mechanisms favoring viral excision and reactivation from integration.
In all, the proposed research is aimed at understanding HHV-6A/B integration processes as well as understand the pathogenic outcomes linked with this unusual form of herpesvirus latency.