Putative oncogenic viruses: Some data on Brazilian subjects

Abstract

The concepts of cancer etiology have changed over the years, mainly based on molecular epidemiology studies and bioinformatics approaches. Until relatively recently the most accepted theory of cancer etiology has dealt with the accumulation of gene mutations and the consequent cognate proteins dysfunction, but now some authors have argued against the proposed theory. The additional role of noncellular genes in the cause of malignancy, associated to environmental factors and host genetic background, has been proposed and mostly accepted by the scientific community. Some of our data from human populations in Brazil concerning cancer epidemiology, molecular and serological surveys, were conducted looking for the detection of putative oncogenic viruses, as the Human T-cell Lymphotropic virus/ HTLV-1/2, Human Papillomavirus/HPV, the Mouse or Human Mammary Tumor Virus/MMTV, the Human Endogenous Retrovirus/HERVs and the Hepatitis C virus/HCV, in human, healthy and malignized, tissues. Generally, research work around the world suggests that 10 to 20 % of all human cancers are etiologically linked to oncogenic viruses, so if the presence of exogenous or endogenous virus sequences in the human DNA has any significancy in the cancer etiology, it deserves further and continuous research work and discussion.

Editorial comments to the articles published in Volume 8

“…It has been documented that viruses play a critical role in the development of a variety of human malignancies. Tenόrio et al [3] reviewed the impact of such oncogenic viruses, including human T-cell lymphotropic virus, human papillomavirus (HPV), mouse/human mammary tumor virus, human endogenous retrovirus (HERV), and hepatitis C virus. Interestingly, serological survey, using PCR-based assays, revealed that some of their patients with head and neck cancer were positive for HPV (1 of 38) and HERV-K (31 of 35).…”