Question ID: WS-33
Submitted by: Sanford Dawsey
February 4, 2011
Are there additional common malignancies that are caused by oncogenic viruses? Background: 50 years ago, no malignancies were thought to be caused by viruses. Since then, oncogenic viruses have been shown to cause about 20% of human cancer cases, including cervical cancers, hepatocellular carcinomas, Kaposi’s Sarcomas, nasopharyngeal carcinomas, and several lymphomas. Whenever a viral etiology is found, the possibility exists that a prophylactic or therapeutic vaccine can be developed that can significantly reduce the mortality of the virus-induced cancer. Feasibility: With the advent of high-throughput sequencing and computational subtraction bioinformatics, it is now possible to efficiently identify viral mRNA transcripts in tumor tissues, and promising viruses (including novel ones) can be evaluated in population studies for their association with tumor development. Such an approach has not yet been initiated in a systematic way for the major human cancers, but this could be done if the NCI leadership made this a priority and encouraged appropriate collaborations. Implications of Success: Finding a new viral cause and developing a successful vaccine for even one major human cancer could make a tremendous impact on cancer mortality worldwide, and could be one of the most significant contributions of our generation to reducing the burden of cancer in the world.
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