Viruses, cancer cells, and the genetic concept of virus infection.

作者：S. E. Luria · 发表于：PubMed · 年份：1960 · 被引用次数：20 · 研究领域：Virus-based gene therapy research、Molecular Biology Techniques and Applications、Polyomavirus and related diseases

The experimental evidence for the role of vi ruses in the etiology of some cancers has recently been reviewed by several investigators active in this field (3, 25). A review by an outsider would only add confusion to an already complex field. This is one justification for not attempting any detailed survey of tumor viruses in this paper. Another, possibly a more valid one, is that this conference may concern itself at least as much with the place of virology in cancer research as with the role of viruses in cancer. A useful intro duction for the presentations that will follow mine may be, therefore, a survey of recent ad vances in basic virology, which have produced some unifying concepts on the relation of viruses to cellular constituents and to cellular functions. Before discussing viruses, however, it seems desirable to state some problems of cancer etiol ogy in very simple terms, so that we can see what is required of viruses when they are called upon to act as carcinogenic agents. A cancer cell is a cell that has become intrin sically altered and capable of multiplying by es caping the normal growth regulation by certain control mechanisms. The control mechanisms can be either internal or external to the cell. The in ternal control mechanisms presumably include interactions among cellular constituents, as well as receptor systems for external factors. The ex ternal mechanisms that regulate cellular multi plication are partially known from studies on compensatory hyperpla...