Inherited virus may play role in breast cancer NEW

An inherited virus may be one of the factors that triggers breast cancer in humans, researchers report.

NY, Aug 12, 1999 (Reuters Health). Scientists say that a primitive retrovirus, human mammary tumor virus (HMTV), has been identified in human breast cancer tissues.

"If a definitive link to this retrovirus is established, HMTV may become a target for a vaccine to prevent breast cancer and a target for new treatments for breast cancer," explained study lead author Dr. Robert Garry of Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana.

A retrovirus similar to HMTV has already been linked to malignant breast tumors in mice. Speaking to attendees at the 11th International Congress of Virology in Sydney, Australia, Garry explained that vertebrate species other than mice -- including some humans -- carry similar viruses.

He said that his team had identified the virus, dubbed HMTV, in breast cancer tissue and other organ issue from breast cancer patients, and also in tissues from individuals who did not have breast cancer.

The virus, he said, is likely to be "a cofactor" for triggering breast cancer, along with other factors such as an individual's genetic makeup.

Dr. Orli Etingin, an oncologist and assistant professor of medicine at New York Hospital/Cornell Medical Center in New York City, called the finding "a very interesting new piece of the (cancer) puzzle."

Speaking with Reuters Health, she noted that "retroviruses have (already) been implicated in certain kinds of lymphomas." But she believes that "a lot more research really has to be done in order to confirm the finding and also to establish what the relationship of the virus is to the development of tumors in humans."

Reprinted from: Yahoo Daily News