University of Miami researchers have uncovered a key factor in the body's immune response to lethal viruses, possibly leading to new ways to fight lymphoma, liver and cervical cancers and others.

It also could boost the power of vaccines against hepatitis, cervical cancer and polio and someday help create a vaccine against AIDS.

The research is detailed in an article in the September issue of the medical journal Nature, written by Glen N. Barber, Ph.D., professor of medicine, Eugenia J. Dodson, chair in Cancer Research, and Hiroki Ishikawa, Ph.D., a post-doctoral fellow at the UM Medical School's Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center.

''This provides a new mechanism for understanding how the body responds to virus and bacterial infection,'' says Barber.

Practical use of the new information, needing further development and FDA approval, is three to five years away.

Scientists long have known that when a virus invades a cell, the body's immune system, its white cells, produce interferon, a group of powerful proteins that attack the virus.

The UM researchers now have isolated a naturally occurring molecule, STING (STimulator of INterferon Genes), which triggers the production of interferon.

Interferon lies dormant in cells until it recognizes a virus infection, Barber said. Then it sends signals to all other cells to produce antiviral genes to attack the virus.

''If you don't have interferon, you have no antiviral defense,'' said Barber.

The next step: to study how to boost the production of STING, thus increasing the amount of interferon fighting the virus. Animal trials are going on now; next come human trials and the FDA's lengthy testing and approval process.

In theory, artificially produced STING could be injected directly to spur the immune system's response, or given along with vaccinations to boost their power, he said. Studies so far indicate that STING might be useful against both major types of viruses -- DNA viruses and RNA viruses.

''This makes it twice as important,'' says Barber.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

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