Multiple Mechanisms by which Retroviruses Cause Tumors: Can A Virus be Ruled Out if it Doesn’t Fulfill One?

Gunzburg WH^1* and Salmons B²

¹Department of Pathobiology, Institute of Virology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria

²Department of Pathobiology, Austrianova, 3 Biopolis Drive, Singapore

*Corresponding Author : Walter HG
Professor of Virology, Department of Pathobiology, Institute of Virology, University of Veterinary Medicine, A-1210 Vienna, Austria
Tel: +65 91086741
E-mail: gunzburg@onlyemail.com

Received: March 23, 2018 Accepted: April 12, 2018 Published: April 19, 2018

Citation: Gunzburg WH, Salmons B (2018) Multiple Mechanisms by which Retroviruses Cause Tumors: Can A Virus be Ruled Out if it Doesn’t Fulfill One?. J Virol Antivir Res 7:1. doi: 10.4172/2324-8955.1000182

There are a number of publications suggesting that a virus highly related to mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) is involved in human breast cancer but this is not universally accepted. A recent paper concludes that MMTV is probably not involved in human breast cancer, based primarily on PCR data, because less than one copy of MMTV proviral DNA per cell can be found in human breast cancer samples. However, this conclusion assumes the tumor arose from a single cisactivation event due to insertional mutagenesis. Here we outline other mechanisms by which MMTV and other related retroviruses cause tumorigenesis. Since insertional mutagenesis is not the only mechanism by which retroviruses can induce tumorigenesis, we suggest that it is not yet possible to rule out a role for a virus highly related to mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) in human breast cancer.