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An oncovirus or oncogenic virus is a virus that can cause cancer. [4] This term originated from studies of acutely transforming retroviruses in the 1950–60s, [ 5 ] when the term oncornaviruses was used to denote their RNA virus origin. [ 6 ]
When a virus transforms a cell it often causes cancer by either altering the cells' existing genome or introducing additional genetic material which causes cells to uncontrollably replicate. [11] It is rarely considered that what causes so much harm also has the capability of reversing the process and slowing the cancer growth or even leading ...
Viruses that are known to cause cancer such as HPV (cervical cancer), Hepatitis B (liver cancer), and EBV (a type of lymphoma), are all DNA viruses. It is thought that when the virus infects a cell, it inserts a part of its own DNA near the cell growth genes, causing cell division.
Herpesviruses also cause cancer in animals, especially leukemias and lymphomas. [13] Human T cell lymphotropic virus was the first human retrovirus discovered by Robert Gallo and colleagues at NIH. [20] The virus causes Adult T-cell leukemia, a disease first described by Takatsuki and colleagues in Japan [21] and other neurological diseases ...
Angiogenesis can be inhibited by the expression of several genes, which can be delivered to cancer cells in viral vectors, resulting in suppression of angiogenesis, and oxygen starvation in the tumour. The infection of cells with viruses containing the genes for angiostatin and endostatin synthesis inhibited tumour growth in mice.
Persistent viruses can sometimes transform host cells into cancer cells. [15] [22] [18] Viruses such as the human papillomavirus (HPV), human T-lymphotropic virus (HTLV) etc., can stimulate growth of tumours in infected hosts, either by disrupting tumour suppressor gene expression (HPV) or upregulating proto-oncogene expression (HTLV). [15]
Illustration of how a normal cell is converted to a cancer cell, when an oncogene becomes activated. An oncogene is a gene that has the potential to cause cancer. [1] In tumor cells, these genes are often mutated, or expressed at high levels. [2]
Further research done later on by others showed that RSV was a type of retrovirus.It was found that the v-Src gene in RSV is required for the formation of cancer. [3]A function for Src tyrosine kinases in normal cell growth was first demonstrated with the binding of family member p56lck to the cytoplasmic tail of the CD4 and CD8 co-receptors on T-cells. [4]