Microbial oncogenesis

https://doi.org/10.1016/0002-9343(87)90381-0Get rights and content

Abstract

For more than a century, medical investigators have sought to incriminate microorganisms in the cause of cancer. The first scientific evidence of such a relationship came in 1911, with the first successful induction of a tumor using a cell-free extract. Since that time, considerable data have accrued linking retroviruses, herpes viruses, the hepatitis B virus, papovaviruses, and adenoviruses to various malignant neoplasms. There is also increasing evidence that certain bacteria and parasites participate as cofactors in the development of some cancers. Although proof of cause-and-effect relationships has been difficult to obtain, there can be little doubt that microorganisms occasionally play pivotal roles in the origin of some cancers. Whether attempted intervention against these cancers is best directed against the oncogenic microorganisms themselves or against other environmental cofactors is not yet clear. Nevertheless, the successful application of tumor vaccines in the prevention of Marek's disease in chickens and in modifying the outcome of oncogenic herpesvirus infections in nonhuman primates offers hope of at least limited application of microbial vaccines in the prevention of human cancer.

References (212)

  • P Rous

    A sarcoma of the fowl transmissible by an agent separable from the tumor cells

    J Exp Med

    (1911)
  • R Monier et al.

    History and overview of oncogenic CNA viruses

  • G Allen et al.

    Oncogenic transformation of nonpermissive murine cells by viable herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) and EHV-1 DNA

  • LB Chen et al.

    Correlation between tumor induction and the large external transformation-sensitive protein on the cell surface

  • G Darai et al.

    Malignant transformation of rat embryo fibroblasts by herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2 at suboptimal temperature

    Nature (London)

    (1977)
  • R Risser et al.

    The stable classes of transformed cells induced by SV40 infection of established 3T3 cells and primary rat embryonic cells

  • SI Shin et al.

    Tumorigenicity of virus-transformed cells in nude mice is correlated specifically with anchorage independent growth in vitro

  • M Green et al.

    Search for adenovirus genetic information in normal and malignant human tissues

  • G Orth et al.

    Characterization of two types of human papillomaviruses in lesions of epidermodysplasia verruciformis

  • RS Ostrow et al.

    Human papillomavirus DNA in cutaneous primary and metastasized squamous cell carcinomas from patients with epidermodys plasia verruciformis

  • P Gerber et al.

    Comparative studies of Epstein-Barr virus strains from Ghana and the United States

    Int J Cancer

    (1976)
  • G Miller et al.

    Direct comparison of biologic properties and surface antigens of transforming strains of Epstein-Barr virus from Burkitt's lymphoma and infectious mononucleosis

    J Virol

    (1976)
  • G de The

    Co-carcinogenic events in herpesvirus oncogenesis: a review

  • WF Deinhardt et al.

    Simian herpesviruses and neoplasia

    Adv Cancer Res

    (1974)
  • F Deinhardt

    Summary of research in primate oncogenic herpesviruses

  • Rapp F, Shillitoe EJ: Transformation of non-lymphoid cells by herpesviruses: a review. In: de The G, Henle W, Rapp F,...
  • BM Longnecker et al.

    Genetic control of resistance to Marek's disease

  • GE Milo et al.

    Hormonal modification of adenovirus transformation of hamster cells in vitro

    Cancer Res

    (1972)
  • FH Hochberg et al.

    Central-nervous-system lymphoma related to Epstein-Barr virus

    N Engl J Med

    (1983)
  • ME Bender et al.

    Papillomavirus and cutaneous malignancy

    Int J Dermatol

    (1981)
  • RG McKindell

    The Lucke frog kidney tumor and its herpesvirus

    Am Zool

    (1973)
  • CC Harris et al.

    Multifactorial etiology of human liver cancer

    Carcinogenesis

    (1984)
  • II Kessler et al.

    Cervical cancer in Yugoslavia. II. Epidemiologic factors of possible etiologic significance

    J Natl Cancer Inst

    (1974)
  • PM Biggs

    Marek's disease and avian leukosis

  • M Coppelson et al.

    The etiology of squamous carcinoma of the cervix

    Obstet Gynecol

    (1968)
  • G de Thé

    Multistep carcinogenesis, Epstein-Barr virus, and human malignancies

  • DP Burkitt

    Etiology of Burkitt's lymphoma—an alternative hypothesis to a vectored virus

    J Natl Cancer Inst

    (1969)
  • H zur Hausen et al.

    Viruses in the etiology of human genital cancer

    Prog Med Virol

    (1984)
  • DL Cohn et al.

    Absence of Kaposi's sarcoma in hemophiliacs with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome

    Ann Intern Med

    (1984)
  • SA Spector et al.

    Identification of multiple cytomegalovirus strains in homosexual men with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome

    J Infect Dis

    (1984)
  • B Hampar et al.

    Interaction of oncornaviruses and herpesviruses: a hypothesis proposing a co-carcinogenic role for herpesviruses in transformation—a review

  • HE Varmus

    Form and function of retroviral proviruses

    Science

    (1982)
  • EH Chang et al.

    Transformation by cloned Harvey murine sarcoma virus DNA

    Science

    (1980)
  • RJ Muschel et al.

    The human c-ras1H oncogene: a mutation in normal and neoplastic tissue from the same patient

    Science

    (1983)
  • L Aurelian

    Herpesviruses and cervical cancer

  • K Nilsson

    Transformation of lymphoid cells by herpesviruses: a review with special reference to the phenotypic properties of transformed cells

  • JM Demarchi et al.

    Physiological state of human embryonic lung cells affects their response to human cytomegalovirus

    J Virol

    (1977)
  • JM Demarchi et al.

    Induction of cellular DNA synthesis by defective human cytomegalovirus

  • M Vogt et al.

    Steps in the neoplastic transformation of hamster embryo cells by polyoma virus

  • A Knudson et al.

    Mutation and childhood cancer: a probalistic model for the incidence of retinoblastoma

  • Cited by (13)

    • INDIGENOUS FLORA

      2009, Feigin and Cherry's Textbook of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Sixth Edition
    • Environmental causes of cancer

      1990, Medical Clinics of North America
    • Immune suppression at high altitude

      1987, Annals of Emergency Medicine
    • Bacterial infections and cancer development

      2015, Infection and Cancer: Bi-Directorial Interactions
    View all citing articles on Scopus

    This work was supported by the Veterans Administration.

    View full text