Oncovirus

Percentage of people infected with hepatitis C in 2015. The hepatitis C virus is the cause of hepatitis C and some cancers such as liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma, abbreviated HCC) and lymphomas in humans.^[1]^[2]^[3]

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] With the letters "RNA" removed, it now refers to any virus with a DNA or RNA genome causing cancer and is synonymous with "tumor virus" or "cancer virus". The vast majority of human and animal viruses do not cause cancer, probably because of longstanding co-evolution between the virus and its host. Oncoviruses have been important not only in epidemiology, but also in investigations of cell cycle control mechanisms such as the retinoblastoma protein.

The World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer estimated that in 2002, infection caused 17.8% of human cancers, with 11.9% caused by one of seven viruses.^[7] A 2020 study of 2,658 samples from 38 different types of cancer found that 16% were associated with a virus.^[8] These cancers might be easily prevented through vaccination (e.g., papillomavirus vaccines), diagnosed with simple blood tests, and treated with less-toxic antiviral compounds.

^ Ferri C, Sebastiani M, Giuggioli D, Colaci M, Fallahi P, Piluso A, et al. (March 2015). "Hepatitis C virus syndrome: A constellation of organ- and non-organ specific autoimmune disorders, B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and cancer". World Journal of Hepatology. 7 (3): 327–343. doi:10.4254/wjh.v7.i3.327. PMC 4381161. PMID 25848462.
^ Rusyn I, Lemon SM (April 2014). "Mechanisms of HCV-induced liver cancer: what did we learn from in vitro and animal studies?". Cancer Letters. 345 (2): 210–215. doi:10.1016/j.canlet.2013.06.028. PMC 3844040. PMID 23871966.
^ ACS Medical and Editorial Content Team (30 July 2020). "Viruses that can lead to cancer". www.cancer.org. American Cancer Society. Retrieved 27 February 2021.
^ Chang Y, Moore PS, Weiss RA (October 2017). "Human oncogenic viruses: nature and discovery". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences. 372 (1732). Royal Society Publishing: 1–9. doi:10.1098/rstb.2016.0264. JSTOR 44679143. PMC 5597731. PMID 28893931.
^ Valladares Y (1960). "Studies on cancerous pathogenesis. Production of leukemia and polycythemia vera by means of cancerous nucleoproteins from tissue cultures". Medicina Experimentalis. 2: 309–316. doi:10.1159/000134890. PMID 13779782.
^ Herberman RB (2012). "12: Immunology of Oncornaviruses". In Nahmias AJ, O'Reilly RJ (eds.). Immunology of Human Infection: Part II: Viruses and Parasites; Immunodiagnosis and Prevention of Infectious Diseases. Comprehensive Immunology. Vol. 9 (reprint ed.). New York: Plenum Publishing Corporation. pp. 273, 275. ISBN 9781468410129. Retrieved 20 October 2016. Viruses known as oncogenic RNA viruses or oncornaviruses have been described in a wide variety of vertebrate species [...] there have been very few, if any, completely convincing examples of isolation of human oncornaviruses.
^ Parkin DM (June 2006). "The global health burden of infection-associated cancers in the year 2002". International Journal of Cancer. 118 (12): 3030–3044. doi:10.1002/ijc.21731. PMID 16404738. S2CID 10042384.
^ Zapatka M, Borozan I, Brewer DS, Iskar M, Grundhoff A, Alawi M, et al. (March 2020). "The landscape of viral associations in human cancers". Nature Genetics. 52 (3): 320–330. doi:10.1038/s41588-019-0558-9. PMC 8076016. PMID 32025001.

[Ferri2015-1] Ferri C, Sebastiani M, Giuggioli D, Colaci M, Fallahi P, Piluso A, et al. (March 2015). "Hepatitis C virus syndrome: A constellation of organ- and non-organ specific autoimmune disorders, B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and cancer". World Journal of Hepatology. 7 (3): 327–343. doi:10.4254/wjh.v7.i3.327. PMC 4381161. PMID 25848462.

[2] Rusyn I, Lemon SM (April 2014). "Mechanisms of HCV-induced liver cancer: what did we learn from in vitro and animal studies?". Cancer Letters. 345 (2): 210–215. doi:10.1016/j.canlet.2013.06.028. PMC 3844040. PMID 23871966.

[3] ACS Medical and Editorial Content Team (30 July 2020). "Viruses that can lead to cancer". www.cancer.org. American Cancer Society. Retrieved 27 February 2021.

[4] Chang Y, Moore PS, Weiss RA (October 2017). "Human oncogenic viruses: nature and discovery". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences. 372 (1732). Royal Society Publishing: 1–9. doi:10.1098/rstb.2016.0264. JSTOR 44679143. PMC 5597731. PMID 28893931.

[Va-5] Valladares Y (1960). "Studies on cancerous pathogenesis. Production of leukemia and polycythemia vera by means of cancerous nucleoproteins from tissue cultures". Medicina Experimentalis. 2: 309–316. doi:10.1159/000134890. PMID 13779782.

[6] Herberman RB (2012). "12: Immunology of Oncornaviruses". In Nahmias AJ, O'Reilly RJ (eds.). Immunology of Human Infection: Part II: Viruses and Parasites; Immunodiagnosis and Prevention of Infectious Diseases. Comprehensive Immunology. Vol. 9 (reprint ed.). New York: Plenum Publishing Corporation. pp. 273, 275. ISBN 9781468410129. Retrieved 20 October 2016. Viruses known as oncogenic RNA viruses or oncornaviruses have been described in a wide variety of vertebrate species [...] there have been very few, if any, completely convincing examples of isolation of human oncornaviruses.

[Parkin06-7] Parkin DM (June 2006). "The global health burden of infection-associated cancers in the year 2002". International Journal of Cancer. 118 (12): 3030–3044. doi:10.1002/ijc.21731. PMID 16404738. S2CID 10042384.

[8] Zapatka M, Borozan I, Brewer DS, Iskar M, Grundhoff A, Alawi M, et al. (March 2020). "The landscape of viral associations in human cancers". Nature Genetics. 52 (3): 320–330. doi:10.1038/s41588-019-0558-9. PMC 8076016. PMID 32025001.

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