Masahiro Shuda, PhD

Tumor virus research has provided a wealth of information for cancer biology. Polyomaviruses in particular have been central to understanding basic mechanisms of cancer cell transformation. Studies on the SV40 T antigen, for example, led to the discovery of p53 and uncovered the functions of retinoblastoma tumor suppressor protein in cell cycle regulation. Research on murine polyomavirus led to the discovery of tyrosine phosphorylation and the phosphoinositide 3-kinase signaling pathway. Each new cancer virus provides a new model for investigating basic pathways in carcinogenesis. My research exploits the most recently discovered human tumor virus, Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCV), to identify novel cellular pathways leading to cancer.