Viral Oncogenesis

Definition

Viral oncogenesis can be defined as the feature of tumor viruses that induces benign or malignant proliferation of infected cells.

Characteristics

Tumor viruses constitute a heterogeneous group of viruses, which play a causative role in naturally occurring malignancies, benign tumors and tumors of experimentally infected laboratory animals. Although they are members of different and unrelated systematic entities, they have several features in common. They mostly encode growth-stimulating proteins, contain DNA as genetic material, and establish long lasting persistence in the host (Table 1). The last frequently relies on episomal replication of circular viral genomes with a viral origin of replication or the insertion of the genome into the host chromosome.

Table 1 Oncogenic viruses