Cytomegalovirus (CMV) has been confirmed as a cause of the most common salivary gland cancers (Experimental and Molecular Pathology, November 10, 2011).
CMV joins a group of fewer than 10 identified oncoviruses -- cancer-causing viruses -- including HPV.
The findings are the latest in a series of studies by researchers from the Laboratory for Developmental Genetics at the University of Southern California (USC) that together demonstrate CMV's role as an oncovirus, a virus that can either trigger cancer in healthy cells or exploit mutant cell weaknesses to enhance tumor formation.
The conclusion that CMV is an oncovirus came after rigorous study of both human salivary gland tumors and salivary glands of postnatal mice, according to lead author Michael Melnick, DDS, PhD, a professor of developmental genetics in the Ostrow School of Dentistry at USC and co-director of the developmental genetics lab.
This study illustrates that the CMV in the tumors is active and also that the amount of virus-created proteins found is positively correlated with the severity of the cancer, Melnick said. After salivary glands obtained from newborn mice were exposed to purified CMV, cancer developed. In addition, efforts to stop the cancer's progression identified how the virus was acting upon the cells to spark the disease.
The researchers also identified a specific molecular signaling pathway exploited by the virus to create tumors.
With the new information about CMV's connection to cancer comes hope for new prevention and treatment methods, Dr. Melnick noted.
