 Title of Project The role of extracellular heat shock protein 90 in Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus pathogenesis Brief description of project My current research focuses on signaling events related to the pathogenesis of Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus, a major cause of oral cancer in immunocompromised patients Mentor and Department Chris H. Parsons, MD
Medical University of South Carolina Honors/Awards Received NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Recipient MUSC Presidential Scholar (2012-2013) Publications
2010 Qin Z, DeFee M, Isaacs JS, Parsons C. Extracellular Hsp90 serves as a cofactor for
MAPK activation and latent viral gene expression during de novo infection by KSHV. Virology. 2010; 403(1): 92-102. This publication was nominated for a Faculty of 1000 award
2011 DeFee MR, Qin Z, Dai L, Toole BP, Isaacs JS and Parsons CH. Extracellular Hsp90 serves as a co-factor for NF-kB activation and cellular pathogenesis induced by an oncogenic herpesvirus. Am J Cancer Res 2011; 1(5): 686-699
2011 DeFee M, Qin Z, Dai L, Isaacs JS, Parsons C. Am J Cancer Res 2011. Interactions between Hsp90 and oncogenic viruses implications for viral cancer therapeutics. Am J Cancer Res 2011;1(6):763-772
2012 Dai L, Qin Z, DeFee M, Toole B, Kirkwood KL, Parsons C. Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) induces a functional tumor-associated phenotype for oral fibroblasts. Cancer Lett 2012; 318(2):214-20 | 
