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Dr. Kim Mulvihill ReportingNews today about prostate cancer. Researchers say there's a 'suggestion' that prostate cancer could be caused by a virus, meaning it may eventually be more treatable.
Viruses are already blamed for causing cervical cancer and some liver cancers. Now, scientists at UC-San Francisco have discovered a virus in some prostate cancer patients, suggesting an infectious disease may play a role.
When it comes to prostate cancer, we know that genetics and the environment can play a role. Now researchers are hot on the trail of any new virus that could be involved. Using what's called a "viro chip", scientists decided to examine tissue samples taken from 86 prostate cancer patients. What they uncovered astonished them.
Tthe UCSF researchers found a type of virus never before detected in human beings. It's a dramatic discovery -- not just about men, but of mice and men. The new virus they found in human tissues is 96-percent identical to a type of virus typically found in mice."
They found the new virus in patients missing crucial parts of a gene that defends us against viruses. As to how this new virus got into these men, it's a mystery, but they do not believe direct contact with mice is the problem. They say it's more likely the virus entered the human population at some point in the remote past.
They don't know if the virus is unique to prostate cancer, and they have not proven this virus causes prostate cancer. Even so, the findings open new avenues for studying the most common major cancer among men in the United States.
