Why Do Viruses Cause Cancer? Highlights of the First Century of Human Tumour Virology

Overview

Journal Nat Rev Cancer

Specialty Oncology

Date 2010 Nov 25

PMID 21102637

Citations 348

Authors

Patrick S Moore

Yuan Chang

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The year 2011 marks the centenary of Francis Peyton Rous's landmark experiments on an avian cancer virus. Since then, seven human viruses have been found to cause 10-15% of human cancers worldwide. Viruses have been central to modern cancer research and provide profound insights into both infectious and non-infectious cancer causes. This diverse group of viruses reveals unexpected connections between innate immunity, immune sensors and tumour suppressor signalling that control both viral infection and cancer. This Timeline article describes common features of human tumour viruses and discusses how new technologies can be used to identify infectious causes of cancer.

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