OHSU

Patrrizia Caposio

BIOGRAPHY

Patrizia CaposioDr. Patrizia Caposio received her B.Sc. in Biology from the University of Turin, Italy, in 1999.  She obtained her Master in Microbiology and Virology in 2004 and her doctorate degree in Biochemistry in 2007 from the Department of Public Health and Microbiology, University of Turin. During 2005-2009 she became a research assistant professor at the University of Turin. During her training she focused her research on molecular mechanisms of the interactions between Cytomegalovirus (HCMV) and host cells. In particular, she developed the following topics: 1) study of the replication strategies of HCMV in post-mitotic cells and the determination of its ability to regulate the expression of genes and cellular enzymes involved in the viral replicative cycle; and 2) mechanisms of chronic disease due to HCMV persistent infection. She is currently an assistant scientist at the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute, OHSU. 

RESEARCH OVERVIEW 

The importance and the interest of HCMV as a pathogen has increased over the past two decades, with the escalation in the number of immunosuppressed patients, either undergoing immunosuppressive therapy following solid organ or bone marrow transplantation. Epidemiological and animal studies have linked HCMV infection to the development of vascular diseases such as atherosclerosis, restenosis and transplant vascular sclerosis; however, the mechanisms involved in this process remain unknown.  A growing body of evidence supports a role for angiogenesis and wound healing in the development of vascular disease and for this reason the goal of my laboratory is to understand how the virus induces angiogenesis. In particular we are trying to identify the class of viral gene(s) involved in this process as well as the critical cellular factors secreted from infected cells induced by these gene(s) that induce angiogenesis. 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

Caposio P., Dreano M., Garotta G., Gribaudo G. and Landolfo S. Human cytomegalovirus stimulates cellular IKK2 activity and requires the enzyme for productive replication. J. Virol., 78: 3190-3195, 2004.

Caposio P., Musso T., Luganini A., Inoue H., Gariglio M., Landolfo S. and Gribaudo G. Targeting the NF-kappaB pathway through pharmacological inhibition of IKK2 prevents human cytomegalovirus replication and virus-induced inflammatory response in infected endothelial cells. Antiviral Res., 73(3): 175-84, 2007. 

Caposio P., Luganini A., Hahn G., Landolfo S. and Gribaudo G. Activation of the virus-induced IKK/NF-kappaB signalling axis is critical for the replication of human cytomegalovirus in quiescent cells. Cell. Microbiol., 9(8): 2040-54, 2007. 

Luganini A., Caposio P., Landolfo S. and Gribaudo G. Phosphorothioate-modified oligodeoxynucleotides inhibit human cytomegalovirus replication by blocking virus entry. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother., 52(3): 1111-20, 2008. 

Luganini A., Caposio P., Landolfo S. and Gribaudo G. New cell-based indicator assays for the detection of human cytomegalovirus infection and screening of inhibitors of viral immediate-early 2 protein activity. J. Appl. Microbiol., 105(6): 1791-801, 2008.