An Immune Response to Viral Infection can Promote Cancer

Here, researchers find an unrelated mechanism by which an immune response to invading viruses might as a side-effect damage DNA in cells, and thus raise the risk of certain types of cancer. Both bacterial and viral infections of various types have been linked to increased cancer risk. There is no doubt a diverse set of mechanisms yet to be discovered that might explain these correlations. You might recall a recent paper suggesting that some bacteria force a more rapid pace of replication in stem cells, boosting the occurrence of mutational damage as a result, for example. That is very different from the mechanism uncovered in this research, and we might expect other mechanisms to be equally varied. Infection with human papilloma virus (HPV) is the primary cause of cervical cancer and a subset of head and neck cancers worldwide. A new paper describes a fascinating mechanism that links these two conditions - viral infection and cancer. The link, basically, is a family of enzymes called APOBEC3. These APOBEC3 enzymes are an essential piece of the immune system's response to viral infection, attacking viral DNA to cause disabling mutations. Unfortunately, the action of family member APOBEC3A can spill over from its attack against viruses to induce DNA mutations and damage in the host genome as well. In other words, this facet of the immune system designed to scramble viral DNA can scramble human DNA as well, sometimes in ways that cause cancer. "We know that the m...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs