The acknowledgment that viruses are potent biological factors in driving many cancers have seen a dramatic upsurge in recent years in large part to the success of the human papilloma virus vaccine against invasive cervical carcinomas and followed by the awarding of the noble prize in medicine in 2008 to Dr. Harald zurHausen who identified the link between papilloma virus and cervical cancers. Over the last few years there have been some volumes addressing different aspects of viruses and cancers and to some extent focusing on the DNA viruses, more specifically the human DNA viruses. This proposed volume will attempt to review and address the major gaps in current knowledge in DNA viruses as well as RNA viruses bringing a historical perspective of where studies began to a more recent molecular approach and vaccine successes in tumor viruses. We will also cover other known oncogenic viruses associated cancers in other mammals in addition to humans.
This volume constitutes a comprehensive review of the different aspects of tumor virology 100 years after the discovery of the Rous-sarcoma virus. Its aim is to bring a greater focus on the contributions of viral agents to the development of cancer, and to create an up to date compendium of the general molecular biology of these viruses, their gene products, and targeted functions. The content of the book comprises general chapters which tie into the many aspects of cancer-related viruses and how they contribute to cell proliferation, the genes that are responsible for driving these cancers, and their mechanisms of transmission. The book also reviews the current knowledge on the molecular biology of large DNA viruses and describes the many different pathways through which they contribute to cell proliferation. Papilloma viruses and Adenoviruses, well known to be associated with invasive carcinomas, and hepatitis viruses, HTLV and retroviruses are also discussed. This volume is dedicated to Baruch Blumberg, an outstanding scientist and recipient of the Nobel Prize for the discovery of the hepatitis B virus, who was also the author of one of the chapters.
